Chapter 1 Psychopharmacology

Psyc 373 with Cail

Psychopharmacology

The study of how drugs affect mood, perception, cognition, and behavior

pharmacology

the scientific study of the actions of drugs, and their effects on a living organism

Psychoactive drug

Drugs that have effects on mood, perception, cognition, and behavior by acting on the central nervous system

Behavioral Pharmacology

How a drug affects behavior (less on nervous system)

Neuropsychopharmacology

How a drug changes the nervous system, and how that affects behavior

Drug

An administered substance that affects physiological functioning

Administered

Can be taken in many forms or methods (from oral ingestion to intravenous injection)

Problems with “Administered” Def

• administered excludes things made by the body, yet insulin for a diabetic patient still counts as a drug

• multiple things can fall under the category of a ‘substance’ (food)

instrumental drug use

using a drug to address a specific purpose (taking antidepressants to treat depression)

psychotropic drugs

Drugs used to treat a psychological disorder. Example: Ativan for anxiety

recreational drug use

Only used to experience drug effects (smoking marijuana to get high)

drug misuse

Using a drug recreationally that was intended for instrumental use only

Brand Name (trade)

a trademarked name for a drug that is assigned by the company that created the drug

generic name

a nonproprietary name that classifies a drug in a given category and distinguishes it from other drugs in that category

street name

colloquial terms for a drug (used by individuals who make, use, or sell drugs for recreational purposes) (Molly, weed, acid, etc.)

chemical name

detail a drug's chemical structure per rules set forth by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

dose

- defined as the ratio of the amount of drug per body weight

- Total amount administered depends on the body weight

dose response curves

Depict magnitude of a drug effect (behavioral or biological) over range of dose

Threshold for dose response curve

dose with the smallest measurable effect

effective dose

the dose at which a given percentage of individuals show a particular effect of a drug

ED50

is dose that produces 50% of some response (or dose that produces a target response in 50% of individuals)

potency

The absolute amount of drug needed to produce an effect; The lower the dose required for some effect, the more potent

toxic dose

dose that produces some toxic effect in a certain percentage of individuals

TD50

a dose that produces a toxic effect in 50% of individuals

LD50

the dose at which death occurs in 50% of cases

therapeutic index

TD50 /ED50

certain safety index

TD1/ED99

Antagonistic drug interaction

The combined effect produce opposite effects (cancel each other)

additive drug interaction

The combined effect is the sum of each drug's effect

synergistic drug interaction

The combined effect is greater than the sum of each drug's effect

Pharmacodynamics

The physiological and biochemical actions a drug has on the body

Pharmacokinetics

refers to how drugs pass through the body (how it gets to target tissue, and how it’s metabolized and eliminated after use)

pharmacogenetics

refers to the study of how genetic differences influence both pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics (why does one antidepressant work better for one person than another?)

correlational study

no alteration of study conditions. Changes in study variables are observed, and relationships are inferred. Can’t state causal effect with certainty.

experimental study

researchers alter a study's independent variable and observe changes in a dependent variable. experiments can identify causal relationships between an independent variable and a dependent variable.

placebo

a substance that is made to be identical in appearance to the drug, but is inert

Active Placebo

control drugs that have no therapeutic effect but produce side effects similar to those produced by the drug under evaluation

single blind

participants do not know which treatment they received

double blind

neither the participants nor the researcher know the treatment assignments

Objective effects

drug effects that can be directly observed by others (heart rate, pupil dilation, etc.)

Subjective effects

drug effects that cannot be directly observed (e.g., mood, perceptual effects)

internal validity

the extent to which the observed results represent the truth in the population we are studying

Construct validity

how well a test measures the concept it was designed to evaluate.

Predictive Validity

the ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome

three R's in animal research

- replace

- reduce

- refine

external validity

Ability to generalize findings beyond the immediate testing conditions (i.e., to other populations)

informed consent

Free choice; cannot force anyone to participate

Clinical Trail Phases

Phase 1: Determine adverse Affects

Phase 2: Determine effectiveness

Phase 3: Wider effectiveness

Phase 4: After approval, answer additional questions