Month: March 2017

The class of ‘dissociative narcotics’ Commonly pegged as a horse tranquilliser, ketamine has seen rampant recreational use in the club scene for decades. As a ‘dissociative’ drug – one which alters the sensual perceptions of its user – sights, sounds and smells are distorted and feelings of dreamlike dissociation are often invoked. The hallucinogenic properties of dissociative drugs, including a… Read more »

Krafft-Ebing’s ‘Psychopathia Sexualis’ Sexologists have been using the term ‘hypersexuality’ to define dysfunctional sexual behaviours since the late nineteenth century when Richard von Krafft-Ebing, an Austrian psychiatrist, described several cases of extreme sexual behaviour in his highly influential 1886 book, Psychopathia Sexualis. Krafft-Ebing considered any sexual behaviours that weren’t for procreational purposes to be ‘perverse’ …. Read more »

Crooked doctors and ‘Pill Mills’ Florida, USA, also known as the “sunshine state” has revealed a darker side, after being labelled by some as the prescription drug capital of America. Over the past two decades, Florida has fallen prey to a heaving prescription drug epidemic, which at its height saw more than 90% of all the… Read more »

How this ‘recreation’ activity can quickly turn sour Cocaine is one of the most expensive plants in the world. Three out of four ‘wraps’ bought in the UK are from Columbia: cultivated and smuggled over for a high and rising demographic of users. According to a recent UN report, one in 50 people in the… Read more »

When a little flutter becomes a lot of bother If you are looking for a precise description, gambling can be defined as ‘placing something of value at risk in the hopes of gaining something of greater value’. Throughout history, we have evolved this into a number of legal and socially acceptable activities such as betting… Read more »

Immediate gratification vs long term costs It seems that almost anything pleasurable can become addictive. Whether it be drugs, alcohol, exercise, pornography, sex, gambling or the internet, the type of dependencies capable of being formed are almost as varied as the people who form them. But how are they distinguished from a harmless hobby? How much… Read more »

Possibly half a million UK ‘problem gamblers’ Problem gambling is one of the many secret addictions that doesn’t seem to be given as much credence or attention as other more ‘mainstream’ dependencies. Unjustifiably so, because gambling addiction is a very real problem that can have devastating effects on the user’s life and the life of their… Read more »