Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 615.788
EAN num: 9780517888124
ISBN number: 0517888122
Label: Three Rivers Press
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
Page Count: 266
Printing Date: March 31, 1998
Publishing house: Three Rivers Press
Release Date: March 31, 1998
Sale Popularity Level: 1045085
Studio: Three Rivers Press
Accessories:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Amazon.com Review:
Humans have sought ways to alter their minds and boost their moods throughout time and across cultures. If you've wondered if you could perk up or unwind with a natural, legal substance, this book is for you. Natural Energy is a guide to natural stimulants, mood brighteners, brain boosters, relaxants, inebriants, and aphrodisiacs. Author Mark Mayell, former editor of Natural Health magazine and an expert on holistic healing, examines the effects of various herbs, amino acids, essential oils, hormones, and nutritional supplements on mood and mind.
Natural Energy is not a quickie dictionary of herbs. Rather, Mayell chooses 17 substances and goes into depth about the history, use, effects (including why they work), supporting research, preparation, related substances, and safety precautions of each. All of the information is presented in a clear, straightforward style. Mayell discusses Saint Johnswort, valerian, purple tea, ginseng, ephedra/mahuang, kola nut, ginkgo, California poppy, melatonin, kava, and yohimbe, as well as several amino acids, essential oils, and 'smart drugs.' You'll become better prepared to determine whether a particular substance might be beneficial for you. (Of course, this book is not a substitute for medial advice. Talk to your health practitioner about any herbs you are considering taking.) --Joan Price
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Mayell's "Natural Energy" is a normalizing, de-pathologizing discusion of human desire to experiment with its consciousness and a methodical, encyclopedic review of legal, socially-sanctioned mind-altering and mood-brightening herbs and supplements.
As such, the book is a wonderful resource for any substance use/drugy and alcohol providers interested in designing "natural highs" clinical curricula for clients struggling to find psychologically healthy over-the-counter self-medicating options. Let's face it: there will be people who don't like to go to doctors. Whether we call them "resistent," or Stoic, they have and will self-medicate. For some users (or, shall we say, "chemical copers"), drinking and boozing is self-psychiatry. Mayell offers a no-nonsense guide to this kind of herbal/supplemental self-management.
In my work with substance use population (in the correctional setting), I found this tome to be of great value (along with Weil's and Rosen's "Chocolate to Morphine") in designing a "natural highs" treatment curriculum for offering clients an exploration of non-addictive self-medication alternatives.
Perhaps, more valuable than the specific herbal prescriptions, is Mayell's thesis: non-addictive responsible self-medication is a possibility.
Pavel Somov, Ph.D.
Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, Nov. 2008), "Recovery Equation: Motivational Enhancement/Choice Awareness/Use Prevention: an Innovative Clinical Curriculum for Substance Use Treatment"
www.drsomov.com
www.eatingthemoment.com
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