Abstract
The use of drugs to improve mental processes, such as memory, concentration and alertness, has been increasing. Nicknamed “smart drugs”, nootropic drugs are used with the expectation that better performance can be achieved in professional and academic tasks. This analyzes the spread of cognitive enhancement drugs according to a Brazilian blog called Cérebro Turbinado focusing on the discussion of the nootropic drugs category. This is a documentary socio-anthropological research grounded on the scientific outreach materials that integrate the blog content, created in 2015 by a medical student from a public university. The blog presents nootropics as the most affordable, safe and equally effective options for psychotropic drugs used as smart drugs. Editor and readers turn to the production of collective knowledge to optimize brain performance. The narratives of personal experiences highlight the way individuals interpret their body states and relate them to medication. In the wake of society’s medicalization processes, the production of subjectivity modes based on an individualistic conception of health/disease/disability processes, supported by neuromolecular understanding of the brain, is grounded on the sharing of practices and knowledge about such substances.
Keywords:
Medicalization; Biomedical Enhancement; Nootropics; Self Medication; Psychopharmacology