Bio - Therapy Flashcards
What therapy is linked to the biological approach
Drug therapy -
How does the Locolisation of brain function link to drug therapy?
Drug therapy follows what’s known as the medical model which states that all psychological illnesses should be treated like physical illnesses so drugs are taken to target specific areas of the brain.
For example. If you have a physical illness like a cold you might take piriton (physical medication) similarly we treat depression (mental illness) with anti-depressants.
By treating them both with a physical pill we are using the medical model of illness
What does drug therpay assume is the cause of abnormal behaviour?
This approach assumes the cause of abnormal behaviour is a result of faulty neurotransmitters.
for example, a person with low levels of dopamine may develop mental health conditions such as depression. Therefore, the aim of drug therapy is to increase or decrease the number of neurotransmitters in the brain (depending on the mental illness), in order for the individual to live a more functional life.
What two drugs are used to deal with schizophrenia?
Anti-Psychotics are used to treat schizo there are two types of symptoms positive and negative.
1) Conventional anti-psychotics deal strictly with positive symptoms.
2) A-typical anti-psychotics deal with both negative and positive symptoms
How do the two anti-psychotic drugs work?
Conventional anti-psychotics work by binding onto dopamine receptors which blocks the uptake of dopamine, reducing its activity. - However this can cause adverse side-effects.
Atypical anti-psychotics work very similarly with the only real difference being that they rapidly deteriorate over time to allow normal dopamine uptake again eventually - this reduces side effects.
What Drugs are used to treat depression and how do they work?
Anti-depressants - called SSRI - work by binding to pre-synaptic neuron so serotonin the synapse dosent go back up the pre-synaptic neuron once it has entered the synapse.
What drugs are used to treat anxiety?
Anti-anxiety drugs - specifically:
Beta Blockers (BB’s) and Benzodiazeopines (BZ’s)
What are the two causes of anxiety?
The first is a lack of GABA which is which is a neurotransmitter that serves as our body’s natural way of slowing down the Central Nervous System if we don’t have enough, it can cause stress and anxiety.
The other cause is having too high levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline which arere released naturally by our body’s in a fight or flight response.
How do BZ’s and BB’s work to treat anxiety?
BZ’s enhance the activity of GABA, slowing down our CNS. This is very important as our CNS controls most functions of the body such as our brain and spinal cord and having it work too fast causes stress and anxiety.
BB’s Beta Blockers (BB’s) work by binding onto the receptors onto the cells of parts of the body that are activated during sympathetic arousal. (fight or flight)
Once they are binded on to these receptors. It makes it harder for them to be stimulated making the heart beat slower and the person feel less anxious as a result
Evaluative points of Drug Therapy
Effectiveness strength:
Research evidence (khan et al)
cheap
Effectiveness weakness:
side effects
Ethics weakness:
placebos (soomro et al)
valid consent
Name a strength of Drug therapy in relation to research evidence
1) A strength of drug therapy is that it is supported by research evidence
For instance Kahn et al followed 250 patients over 8 weeks and found that BZ’s to be significantly superior to placebos. Therefore, this demonstrates the effectiveness of using drug therapy to treat mental illnesses.
However, (Counterpoint) one of the issues regarding the evaluation of treatment is that most studies are only three to four months duration, and therefore little long-term data exists.
Name a strength of Drug therapy in relation to cost
2) Another strength of drug therapy compared to other treatments is that drug therapy is far cheaper for the patients.
This is because the prescriptions prescribed by the NHS for free. This means doctors have to spend less time with the patient, only having to meet every couple of months to see if the patient is making progress. This is a strength as it means this type of therapy is more accesable to individuals compared to other types of therapy.
Name a weakness of Drug Therapy in relation to side effects
1) Soomro et al has found many of these drugs have unpleasent side effects such as nausea and headaches - this is a weakness as many participants will choose to not take their treatment as a result
Name a weakness of Drug Therapy in relation to Placebos
2) Yet another weakness is the use of placebos (soomro et al) a fundamental research ethic is that no patient should be given a treatment known to be inferior. If effective treatments exist they should be used as the control, not a placebo. Therefore, the use of placebos in testing the effectiveness of drugs raises ethical issues.
Name a weakness of the ethics of Drug Therapy in relation to valid consent
3) The lack of valid consent in drug therapy is yet another weakness. Many patients may not be in the correct frame of mind when agreeing to receiving drug therapy such as those suffering from schizophrenia.
Furthermore, medical professionals may withhold some information about the drugs/exaggerate the benefits of taking medication, failing to inform them of other therapeutic options, due to the quick fix nature of drug therapy.
