Psychopharmacology: The Effects of Drugs on Mood and Behavior

The course is about psychopharmacology, which is the study of the effects of drugs on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior.

The human mind is capable of excitement without the application of gross and violent stimulants, and our body naturally produces substances and neurotransmitters.

Psychopharmacology is a field in psychology and medicine that focuses on the effects of drugs on mental disability, illnesses, or disorders.

Clinical psychopharmacology is a professionally recognized specialty field within clinical psychology that studies the therapeutic use of psychotropic medication.

Psychotropic medication is an umbrella term for a lot of different drugs that affect mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior, including prescription drugs and commonly misused drugs.

Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that produce a reaction in target cells, neuromodulators are also chemical messengers that act on neurons, and hormones are capable of producing effects at target cells quite distant from their site of release.

Examples of neurotransmitters include acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, glutamate, GABA, ATP, and endorphins.

Dopamine is a major monowoman and catecholamine neurotransmitter implicated in water control, reward, and psychosis.

Norepinephrine is a major monowoman and catecholamine neurotransmitter, and epinephrine is also known as adrenaline.

Serotonin is a major manual and endo endolina neurotransmitter believed to participate in the regulation of moon, sleep, and appetite.

A psychotropic drug describes any drug that affects behavior, mood, thoughts, or perception, including both prescriptive drugs and commonly misused drugs.

Examples of psychoactive drugs include alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, marijuana, and surgeon pain medicines.

Types of psychotropic drugs include psychedelics, anti-anxiety agents, antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and stimulants.

Synapse is a brand name for a common anti-anxiety medication, and other examples of medications include clonazepam, lexapro, and fluoxetine.

Antipsychotic medications are used for people having psychotic symptoms or disorders, and mood stabilizers are used for people who have seizures or epilepsy.

Stimulant medications are used for people who have ADHD or narcolepsy.

Many drugs produce their psychoactive effects through actions at the synapse, affecting the synthesis, storage, release, and reuptake of neurotransmitters.

Agonist is a drug that binds to the receptor and produces a similar response, while antagonist is a drug that binds to the receptor site and reduces the activity of the neurotransmitter.

The placebo effect is the term used to describe the perceived benefit from inactive substances or procedures.

A double-blind experiment is a research design in which neither the participant nor the experimenter knows whether the participant is receiving a drug or a placebo until after the research is concluded.

Receptor sites are where the actual transfer of neurotransmitters happens, and GABA receptors are responsible for producing calmness.

Benzodiazepines are a class of tranquilizers that includes diazepam, alcohol, and barbiturates, which are used in anesthesia and in the control of seizures.

SSRIs treat depression by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain, and serotonin is one of the chemical messengers or neurotransmitters that carry signals between brain nerve cells.

Drug addiction is a chronic disease characterized by compulsive or uncontrollable drug seeking and use despite the harmful consequences and the brain changes in the brain which can be long-lasting.

The path of drug addiction begins with a voluntary act of taking drugs, but over time, a person's ability to choose not to do so becomes compromised.

Addiction affects parts of the brain involved in the reward and motivation, learning and memory, and control over behavior.

Tolerance is a process in which more of a drug is needed to produce the same effect, and withdrawal happens when the symptoms occur when certain addictive drugs are no longer administered or are administered in smaller doses.

Principles of effective treatments include an intervention plan that addresses dependence at least in part, and there are universal treatment plans for all people who are considered to be addicts or drug addicts.

Causes of addiction include the ability of a drug to stimulate our natural neural systems of reward, and addicted drugs produce a variety of behavioral effects but many share the ability to stimulate more intense and longer-lasting dopamine release than we typically see in response to environmental events.