Introduction to Drugs and Behavior Flashcards
drug use
many animals (humans and others) ingest substances that change the way the mind and body work
psychopharmacology
the study of how drugs affect mood, perception, thinking or behavior
psychoactive drugs
drugs that affect mood perception, thinking, and/or behavior by acting on the nervous system ex. cocaine
Who cares?
many people in this room
recreational drug use (misuse)
drug use to treat psychological disorders/difficulties
recreational drug use (misuse)
impacts on behavior and function
in many cases, person is by definition a criminal
drug use to treat psychological disorders/difficulties
How do psychological drugs work?
How do they change/alter the subjective experience of the person using?
statistics
lots of people use drugs
Who is a psychopharmacologist? (PsychoPharm)
medical practitioners
researchers
behavioral pharmacology
medical practitioners
psychiatrists- prescribe drugs as part of treatment of psychological disorders
researchers
study the effects of psychoactive drugs
behavioral pharmacology
Subfield of Applied Behavioral Analysis
Drugs= stimulus from the environment
What is a drug?
A substance, other than food, that when ingested/administered, alters the way the mind/body works
administered drug
not produced naturally by the body
dopamine
neurotransmitter produced by the body- not a drug
substance given by a psychiatrist to treat auditory hallucinations- is a drug
psychoactive drugs instrumental use
using a drug for a specific purpose
usually occurs with psychotropic drugs
drugs used for treating mental disorders
can also be non-medical
drinking coffee to “wake-up”
psychoactive drugs recreational use
using a drug to experience its effects (for “fun”)
drinking alcohol to get a “buzz”
drug misuse- drugs that are meant to be used instrumentally- that are used recreationally.
What’s in a name?
Nearly all therapeutic drugs have a generic name and (at least one) brand name
brand name: trademarked name
generic name: non-propriatary name that indicates
- classification for a drug
- distinguishes it from other drugs in a class
ex. tylenol (brand name) vs. acetaminophen (generic name)
generic names
tell you about the class of a drug
ex. chlorpromazine vs. clozapine vs. olanzapine
all 3 drugs end in “a” followed by a consonant and the suffix “ine”
drugs with “apine” or “azine” in their names= antipsychotics
this also tells us something about the chemical structure of the drug
INE suffix= amine chemical in their structure
this isn’t always true- but ideally the generic name tells us a bit about the drug
chemical name
details the drug’s chemical structure
“street names”
usually for recreational drugs..
benign sounding words-
keeps others from understanding what is going on
ex. MDMA= Adam
sometimes the effect of the drugs
ex. MDMA= ecstasy
doses
dose= amount of drug/body weight
in experimental settings- we may give an animal 1.0 g/kg
- avg lab rat weights 500 gs
- dose= 0.5 g
for OTC drugs (over the counter)
- drugs assume an avg adult’s body weight
- take 1-2 tabs every 4-6 hours
- this has created a lot of controversy in medical research
dose-effect curves
shows the effects of drug affected by dose
different drugs produce different responses
lower doses
weaker responses
higher doses
stronger responses
what is EC50?
the value at which “50 percent” of an effect was observed
can be other values
measure of potency of the drug
potency
amount of drug used to produce a certain level of effect
the drug is considered “higher potency” when it takes a smaller amount to reach EC50
toxic dose
the dose that causes unacceptable adverse effects
TD
the point at which 50% of subjects experienced toxic effects of a drug