The modification of attitudes and behavior by drugs both for scientific inquiry and therapy and control, constitutes an area of increasing concern to social scientists and policy-makers. In a theoretically integrated survey,1 the author explains some of the major dynamics and developments of psychoactive (and hence socioactive) drugs and comments upon the public issues involved in their use. Dr. Miller is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Michigan, where he is also Director of the Mental Health Research Institute.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Jefferson, Thomas.Letters to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800.
2.
Chase, Stuart , Tyranny of Words. New York : Harcourt, Brace, Inc., 1959.
3.
Whorf, B.L.Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings. Carroll, John B. (ed.) New York: John Wiley & Sons., Inc, 1956.
4.
Whitehead, A.N.Adventures of Ideas. New York: Macmillan Co., 1933.
5.
Miller, J.G. "Toward a general theory for the behavioral sciences," Amer. Psychologist, 1955, 10, 513-531.
6.
Jung, C.G.The Development of Personality. New York: Pantheon Books, Inc., 1954, 116-117.
7.
Miller, J.G. "Information input overload and psychopathology ," Amer. J. Psychiat., 1959, 116, 695-704.
8.
DeQuincey, T.Confessions of an English Opium Eater. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955, 212.
9.
Marquis, D.G. , Kelly, E.L.Miller , J.G., Gerard, R.W., and Rapoport , A. "Experimental studies of behavioral effects of meprobamate on normal subjects," Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 1957, 67, 701-712.
10.
Housman, A.E.A Shropshire Lad. New York : Henry Holt, 1922, 94.
11.
Himwich, H.E. "Biochemical and neurophysiological action of psychoactive drugs," In Drugs and Behavior. Uhr, L. & Miller, J. G. (eds.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1960, 46-47.
12.
Uhr, L. "Objectively measured behavioral effects of psychoactive drugs." In Uhr, L. & Miller, J. G. op. cit., 624-625.
13.
Kornetsky, C. & Humphries , O. "Relationship between effects of a number of centrally acting drugs in man," Arch. Neurol. Psychiat., 1957, 77, 325-327.
14.
Kornetsky, C. & Humphries , O. "Psychological effects of centrally acting drugs in man. Effects of chlorpromazine and secobarbital on visual and motor behavior," J. Ment. Sci., 1958, 104, 1093-1099.
15.
Kelly, E.L. , Miller, J.G., Marquis , D.G., Gerard, R.W. & Uhr, L. "Personality differ. ences and continued meprobamate and procloperazine administration," Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. , 1958, 80, 247-252.
16.
Klerman, G.L. , DiMascio, A., Rinkel , M. & Greenblatt , M.The influence of personality factors on the effects of phrenotropic agents. (An experimental procedure to integrate physiologic and psychologic actionPaper read at meeting of Soc. Biolog. Psychiat, San Francisco , 1958.
17.
Ellsworth, R.B., & Clark, L.D. "Prediction of the response of chronic schizophrenics to drug therapy: A preliminary report on the relationship between palmar sweat and the behavioral effects of tranquilizing drugs," J. Clin. Psychol., 1957, 13, 59-61.
18.
Heller, G.C. , Walton, D. & Black, D.A. "Meprobamate in the treatment of tension states," J. Ment. Sci., 1957, 103, 581-588.
19.
Schneider, R.A. "The influence of pre-drug level of functioning on the effects of sedatives, tranquilizers, and stimulants on central autonomic function and reaction time ," In Uhr, L. & Miller, J. G. op. cit., 420-426.
20.
Shagass, C. & Kerenyi, A.B. "Neuro-physiologic studies of personality," J. Mont. Dis., 1958, 126, 141-147.
21.
Kubie, L.S. "A psychoanalytic approach to the pharmacology of psychological processes ," In Uhr, L. & Miller, J. G., op. cit., 214.
22.
Gottschalk, L.A. , Kapp, F.T., Ross , W.D., Kaplan, S.M., Silver, H., Macleod, J.A., Kahn, J.B., Jr., Van Maanen , E.F., and Acheson, G.H. "Explorations in testing drugs affecting physical and mental activity ," J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1956, 161, 1054-1058.
23.
Whitman, R.M. , Pierce, C.M., & Mass, J. "Drugs and dreams ," In Uhr, L. & Miller, J. G., op. cit., 591-595.
24.
Beecher, H.K. "The powerful placebo," J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1955, 159, 1602-1606.
25.
Kurland, A.A. "The drug placebo—its psychodynamic and conditional reflex reaction," Behav. Sci., 1957, 2, 101-110.
26.
Lasagna, L. , von Felsinger, J.N., & Beecher , H.K. "Drug-induced mood changes in man," J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1955 , 157, 1113-1119.
27.
Trouton, D.S. "Placebos and their psychological effects," J. Ment. Sci., 1957, 103, 344-354.
28.
Fischer, H.K. & Dlin, B.M. "The dynamics of placebo therapy: A clinical study," Amer. J. Med. Sci., 1956 , 232, 504-512.
29.
Gottschalk, L.A. "The use of drugs in information-seeking interviews ," In Uhr, L. & Miller, J. G. op. cit., 515-518.
30.
New York Times, August 18, 1955.
31.
Olds, J. "Self-injection in the rat brain," In Neuropsychopharmacology, Proceedings of the First International Congress of Neuro-pharmacology in Rome 1958. Bradley, P. B., Deniker, P., & Radouco-Thomas, C., (eds.) Rome: Elsevier Publishing Co., 1959, 20-32.
32.
Kristofferson, A.B. & Cormack , R.H.Meprobamate and electrical conductivity of the skin. Mimeographed paper, 1959.
33.
Life Magazine, 1959, 47, Nov. 2, 31-34.
34.
34 Polo, M.The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian. (tr. Marsden, W.) Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1948, 48-51.
