Health Psychology Definitions

Question 0

What is meant by the term mode of action?

Answer 0

How a drug affects biochemistry and physiological factors

Question 1

What is health psychology?

Answer 1

The study of good and bad health looking at the mind, body and environmental factors of treating or preventing bad health for example diagnosing and treating drug misuse

Question 2

What are the 3 ways a drug can act?

Answer 2

Bind to receptors
Block receptors
Influence the synthesis, transport, release or deactivation of neurotransmitters

Question 3

What is an agonist?

Answer 3

A drug that mimics the effect of a neurotransmitter and increases post-synaptic activity by stimulating post synaptic receptors

Question 4

What is an antagonist?

Answer 4

A drug that limits the effect of a neurotransmitter and reduces post-synaptic activity

Question 5

What are the 3 types of neurotransmitters?

Answer 5

Monoamines
Endorphins
GABA

Question 6

What are monoanines?

Answer 6

Excitatory neurotransmitters that are able to stimulate many neurons that are located far away from each other

Question 7

What are endorphins?

Answer 7

Inhibitory neurotransmitters that interact mainly with receptors in cells found in regions of the brain responsible for blocking pain and controlling emotion

Question 8

What is GABA?

Answer 8

Inhibitory neurotransmitter

40% of the synapses in the human brain work with GABA and have GABA receptors

Question 9

What are psychoactive drugs?

Answer 9

Psychoactive drugs may either increase postsynaptic transmission or decrease postsynaptic transmissions

Question 10

What are stimulants?

Answer 10

Stimulants produce psychomotor arousal and increased alertness

Question 11

What are depressants?

Answer 11

Depressants slow down brain activity and relax muscles

Question 12

What is withdrawal syndrome?

Answer 12

Set of clinical symptoms that develops when there is a sudden drop in the blood levels of certain drugs

Question 13

What does it mean to be psychically dependent?

Answer 13

Someone who suffers withdrawal syndromes when they stop taking a drug

Question 14

What is tolerance?

Answer 14

Decreased sensitivity to a drug that develops as a result of exposure to it. Therefore, more drug is needed to produce the same effect

Question 15

What is cross tolerance?

Answer 15

Tolerance to one drug may cause tolerance to other drugs that have similar mechanisms of action

Question 16

What is drug sensation?

Answer 16

Sensitivity to other effects of the same drug increases

Question 17

What is metabolic tolerance?

Answer 17

Metabolic tolerance occurs when the amount of drug reaching the sites of action decreases

Question 18

What is functional tolerance?

Answer 18

Functional tolerance occurs when there is a reduction in the reactivity of the sites of action to the drug

Question 19

What is down regulation?

Answer 19

This is where the number of receptor sites or their sensitivity is reduced. Because there are fewer receptors for the drug to attach to, more of a drug is needed for the same effect.

Question 20

What’s the role of enzymes?

Answer 20

Drug molecules are broken down by enzymes in the liver. As a response to drug use, more of these enzymes are produced. The more someone uses a drug, the more efficient the body gets at removing drug molecules therefore more drug is needed