For undergraduate courses in Psychopharmacology / Drugs and Behavior. Organized by disorder.
Psychopharmacology introduces readers to the mechanisms of action of a wide range of drugs used to treat psychological disorders as well as a range of drugs used recreationally.
Presents pharmacology in the context of the behavioral disorders they are designed to treat, not by traditional drug classification. Students are familiar with the major diagnostic categories (affective disorders, psychoses, attention disorders, etc) so presenting pharmacology as it pertains to these familiar disorders strengthens their understanding of the physiology and neurochemistry underlying them as well as the approaches to their treatment. Students in many applied fields need accessible information that can be built upon in professional programs as well as information that is both relevant and applicable immediately. This text provides both.
Click here to view a brief interview with author Dr. Chip Ettinger! www.youtube.com/pearsonpsych
Chapter 1: Organization and Function of the Nervous System
Chapter 2:Psychopharmacology: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Chapter 3:Mood Disorders: Major Depression and Bipolar Disorders
Chapter 4: Anxiety Disorders: Panic, Generalized Anxiety, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders
Chapter 5:Psychotic Disorders: Schizophrenia
Chapter 6:Attention and Developmental Disorders: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Chapter 7:The Pharmacology of Opiates and Analgesia
Chapter 8:Substance Abuse and the Neurobiology of Addiction
Chapter 9:The Pharmacology of Scheduled Psychoactive Drugs: Psychostimulants, Psychedelics, and Marijuana
Chapter 10:The Pharmacology of Non Scheduled Psychoactive Drugs: Alcohol, Nicotine, and Caffeine
This is a new first edition. Please see "Features" to learn more about this text.
This text introduces a sufficient background in neuroanatomy and physiology so that students can comprehend the necessary details of drug action. Unfortunately, undergraduate students do not always get a sufficient introduction to neural and physiological sciences, so they are unprepared to approach courses in psychopharmacology.
This text presents the necessary neuroscience to understand the mechanisms of drug action for the treatment of a wide range of psychiatric and behavioral disorders.
While most psychopharmacology texts are organized by drug classification and action, this text is organized around the disorders drugs are designed to treat. Each disorder is discussed from a historical context along with diagnostic criteria and descriptions of typical cases. In addition, the underlying pathology of each disorder is carefully described. This book presents a comprehensive overview of drug therapies, their side effects, and, where relevant, alternatives to drug treatment.
This text utilizes illustrations to clarify the actions of drugs and show how these effects might lead to changes in mood or behavior. It emphasizes that the common conceptions of drug effects are often wrong. For instance, the SSRIs such as Prozac, do not simply make patients “happier”. In fact, many patients only recognize that the drug has had an effect when they remember back to how they felt weeks before taking the drug. That is, the antidepressant effects are actually quite subtle, and in many cases, less noticeable than a drug’s side effects (e.g., decreased libido).
The text carefully examines the research on drug effectiveness. Throughout this text students see the results reported in recent journals. They learn how outcomes of drug effectiveness are measured in both human and animal studies.
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Serves as both a diagnostic and treatment source for non-professionals.
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Significant advances in psychopharmacology provide reasonable outcomes for most patients, especially if combined with behavioral therapy.
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Presents the underlying pathology of psychological disorders as well as their diagnostic criteria.
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Provides students with a more critical approach to the interpretation of often exaggerated drug claims.
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Shows students how drug effectiveness is measured in both human and animal experiments.