Psychopharmacology Noba. Introduction. Psychopharmacology, the study of how drugs affect the brain and behavior, is a relatively new science, although people have probably been taking drugs to change how they feel from early in human history consider the of eating fermented fruit, ancient beer recipes, chewing on the leaves of the cocaine plant for stimulant properties as just some examples. The word psychopharmacology itself tells us that this is a field that bridges our understanding of behavior and brain and pharmacology, and the range of topics included within this field is extremely broad. Keep up with all the 2017 Creative Arts Emmy winners with our list here, updated live as winners are announced. CREATIVE GREECE 2017 EXPORT LEADERS. By Spyros Ktenas. Extroversion can lead the country out of the crisis. The news is revealing and certainly beyond. Fingerprint Capture Software. SuppFile/421/782' alt='Creative Induction Programs' title='Creative Induction Programs' />Drugs that alter our feelings and behavior do so by affecting the communication between neurons in the brain. Image https goo. QCaf. L, CC0 Public Domain, https goo. Virtually any drug that changes the way you feel does this by altering how neurons communicate with each other. Neurons more than 1. When the neurotransmitter crosses the synapse, it binds to a postsynaptic receptor protein on the receiving neuron and the message may then be transmitted onward. Obviously, neurotransmission is far more complicated than this links at the end of this module can provide some useful background if you want more detail but the first step is understanding that virtually all psychoactive drugs interfere with or alter how neurons communicate with each other. There are many neurotransmitters. Some of the most important in terms of psychopharmacological treatment and drugs of abuse are outlined in Table 1. 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Heres what you need to know. Psychoactive drugs can either increase activity at the synapse these are called agonists or reduce activity at the synapse antagonists. Different drugs do this by different mechanisms, and some examples of agonists and antagonists are presented in Table 2. For each example, the drugs trade name, which is the name of the drug provided by the drug company, and generic name in parentheses are provided. Table 1. A very useful link at the end of this module shows the various steps involved in neurotransmission and some ways drugs can alter this. Table 2 provides examples of drugs and their primary mechanism of action, but it is very important to realize that drugs also have effects on other neurotransmitters. This contributes to the kinds of side effects that are observed when someone takes a particular drug. The reality is that no drugs currently available work only exactly where we would like in the brain or only on a specific neurotransmitter. In many cases, individuals are sometimes prescribed one psychotropic drug but then may also have to take additional drugs to reduce the side effects caused by the initial drug. Sometimes individuals stop taking medication because the side effects can be so profound. Table 2. Pharmacokinetics What Is It Why Is It ImportantWhile this section may sound more like pharmacology, it is important to realize how important pharmacokinetics can be when considering psychoactive drugs. Pharmacokinetics refers to how the body handles a drug that we take. As mentioned earlier, psychoactive drugs exert their effects on behavior by altering neuronal communication in the brain, and the majority of drugs reach the brain by traveling in the blood. The acronym ADME is often used with A standing for absorption how the drug gets into the blood, Distribution how the drug gets to the organ of interest in this module, that is the brain, Metabolism how the drug is broken down so it no longer exerts its psychoactive effects, and Excretion how the drug leaves the body. We will talk about a couple of these to show their importance for considering psychoactive drugs. Drug Administration. A drug delivered by IV reaches the brain more quickly than if the drug is taken orally. While rapid delivery has advantages, there are also risks involved with IV administration. Image Calleamanecer, https goo. OX6. Yj. 5, CC BY SA 3. LCn. 2OThere are many ways to take drugs, and these routes of drug administration can have a significant impact on how quickly that drug reaches brain. The most common route of administration is oral administration, which is relatively slow and perhaps surprisingly often the most variable and complex route of administration. Robert Ross A Concise History Of South Africa Pdf. Drugs enter the stomach and then get absorbed by the blood supply and capillaries that line the small intestine. The rate of absorption can be affected by a variety of factors including the quantity and the type of food in the stomach e. This is why the medicine label for some drugs like antibiotics may specifically state foods that you should or should NOT consume within an hour of taking the drug because they can affect the rate of absorption. Two of the most rapid routes of administration include inhalation i. IV in which the drug is injected directly into the vein and hence the blood supply. Both of these routes of administration can get the drug to brain in less than 1. IV administration also has the distinction of being the most dangerous because if there is an adverse drug reaction, there is very little time to administer any antidote, as in the case of an IV heroin overdose. Why might how quickly a drug gets to the brain be important If a drug activates the reward circuits in the brain AND it reaches the brain very quickly, the drug has a high risk for abuse and addiction. Psychostimulants like amphetamine or cocaine are examples of drugs that have high risk for abuse because they are agonists at DA neurons involved in reward AND because these drugs exist in forms that can be either smoked or injected intravenously. Some argue that cigarette smoking is one of the hardest addictions to quit, and although part of the reason for this may be that smoking gets the nicotine into the brain very quickly and indirectly acts on DA neurons, it is a more complicated story. For drugs that reach the brain very quickly, not only is the drug very addictive, but so are the cues associated with the drug see Rohsenow, Niaura, Childress, Abrams, Monti, 1. For a crack user, this could be the pipe that they use to smoke the drug. For a cigarette smoker, however, it could be something as normal as finishing dinner or waking up in the morning if that is when the smoker usually has a cigarette. For both the crack user and the cigarette smoker, the cues associated with the drug may actually cause craving that is alleviated by you guessed it lighting a cigarette or using crack i. This is one of the reasons individuals that enroll in drug treatment programs, especially out of town programs, are at significant risk of relapse if they later find themselves in proximity to old haunts, friends, etc. But this is much more difficult for a cigarette smoker. How can someone avoid eating Or avoid waking up in the morning, etc. These examples help you begin to understand how important the route of administration can be for psychoactive drugs. Metabolism involves the breakdown of psychoactive drugs, and this occurs primarily in the liver. The liver produces enzymes proteins that speed up a chemical reaction, and these enzymes help catalyze a chemical reaction that breaks down psychoactive drugs. Enzymes exist in families, and many psychoactive drugs are broken down by the same family of enzymes, the cytochrome P4. Losing 1. 00 Pounds In 6 Months On Induction.