Definitions

Question 1

What is Neuropharmacology?

Answer 1

-the study of how drugs affect the brain

Question 2

What is Psychopharmacology?

Answer 2

-the study of how drugs affect mood, cognition, and behaviour.

Question 3

What is a Psychotropic drug?

Answer 3

-any drug that affects behaviour, mood, thoughts, and/or perception.
-a.k.a psychoactive;
-includes prescription drugs

Question 4

What is a Psychotherapeutic drug?

Answer 4

-a drug used to treat psychosis or any mental illness/disorder (depression, schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorders).
-it affects mood, cognition, and/or behaviour.

Question 5

What is a side effect?

Answer 5

-any effect of a drug or treatment that isn’t the intended effect or purpose of administering the drug.

Question 6

What is a Sedative?

Answer 6

-drug that has a calming and sleepiness effect. They can also have analgesic (pain-reducing) effects.
-ex: barbiturates and benzodiazepines
-synonym: depressant

Question 7

What is a Stimulant?

Answer 7

-drug that increases mood, alertness, and wakefulness. They are drugs that excite the central nervous system.
-synonym: psychostimulant

Question 8

What is a Tranquilizer?

Answer 8

-a drug that has a calming and sleepiness effect. Similar to sedatives but they do not have very strong analgesic effects.
-ex: antipsychotics

Question 9

What is the Therapeutic Index (TI)?

Answer 9

-the range or distance between the dose that is effective and the dose that is toxic or lethal.

Question 10

What is an Anxiolytic?

Answer 10

-a drug that reduces anxiety

Question 11

What are Uppers?

Answer 11

-non-medical term used in the 1950’s and 60’s to refer to stimulant drugs such as amphetamines.
-synonym: speed

Question 12

What are Downers?

Answer 12

-non-medical term used in the 1950’s and 60’s to refer to sedative drugs such as barbiturates.
-synonyms: sleeping pills, dolls

Question 13

What is Amphetamine Psychosis?

Answer 13

-a syndrome brought on by high or repeated doses of amphetamines. The symptoms are similar to the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (hallucinations, delusions, agitation, split from reality) and treatments are similar.

Question 14

What is Pharmacokinetics?

Answer 14

-the study of how drugs are:
1. absorbed
2. distributed
3. metabolized
4. eliminated

Question 15

What are Drug Actions?

Answer 15

-what drug compounds do, often at the molecular level. The study of how drugs interact with cells within the central nervous system, and change the firing patterns of neurons.

Question 16

What are Drug Effects?

Answer 16

-how drugs produce changes in our body. The study of how drugs affect behaviour, cognition, or mood.

Question 17

What is Xenobiotic?

Answer 17

-a substance that is foreign to the body.

Question 18

What is water soluble?

Answer 18

-charged (or ionized/polar) molecules tend to be lipophobic and hydrophilic

Question 19

What is lipid/fat soluble?

Answer 19

-uncharged (or unionized/non-polar) molecules tend to be lipophilic and hydrophobic.

Question 20

What is Drug Half Life (T 1/2)?

Answer 20

-it is a way to measure absorption, to know how long affects last

Question 21

What is the steady state plasma level?

Answer 21

-steady amount of drug in the system acting on the receptors in the brain at all times.