The shaman and the rave party: social pharmacology of ecstasy.
Substance use & misuse January 1, 2002 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1081/ja-120004159 via PubMed
Summary
Current psychobiological models of drug addiction focus on how drugs exploit the brain's reward system, emphasizing hedonistic factors. Comparing primitive and modern settings of intoxication, such as shamanic rituals and rave parties, challenges this assumption. Archaic drug use served supernatural purposes, excluding recreation. Only after a profane setting developed did psychoactive drugs express their hedonistic potential, a slow historical process.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The hedonistic potential of psychoactive drugs emerged only after a completely profane setting of drug use developed, contrasting with archaic supernatural purposes. |
Abstract
Current psychobiological models of drug addiction are focused on the capability of drugs to cause a pathological exploitation of the neural rewarding system. This approach has emphasized the role of hedonistic factors in the etiology of drug addiction. Comparing primitive and modern settings of intoxication, such as shamanic rituals and rave parties, it is possible to confute this assumption. The archaic way of perceiving and elaborating drug effects mainly determined their use as being for supernatural purposes and excluded recreational purposes. Only after a completely profane setting of drug use was developed, did psychoactive drugs express all their hedonistic potentialities. This development, however, has been a slow process.