Download The Biomedical Therapies

The Biomedical Therapies
Therapies aimed at the altering
the body chemistry.
Psychopharmacology
• The use of drugs to control or relieve the
symptoms of psychological disorders.
Drugs and Hospitalization
Revolutionized the treatment of people with
severe disorders.
Testing New Drugs
• When a new drug is released there
is always a lot of enthusiasm.
• Must use a double-blind procedure
to combat placebo and experimental
effects.
Classification of
psychoactive drugs
Antipsychotic Drugs
• Antipsychotic drugs are a class of medicines
used to treat psychosis and other mental
and emotional conditions.
• Typically excite dopamine receptors
•
They help schizophrenics with both positive
and negative symptoms.
These drugs often have powerful
side effects
Antianxiety Drugs
• Includes drugs like Xanax, Valium and Librium.
• Like alcohol, they depress nervous
system activity.
Most widely abused drugs.
Do they really solve the problem?
Antidepressant Drugs
• Lift you up out of depression.
• Many increase the neurotransmitter
norepinephrine but some are
serotonin inhibitors.
Prozac, Paxil Zoloft
• Work by blocking serotonin reuptake.
Neurotransmitter animation
Mood Stabilizing Medications
• Prescribed for those who suffer from
the highs and lows of bipolar disorder
• The salt lithium is an effective mood
stabilizer.
• Lithium also
reduces the
risk of suicide
in bipolar
patients.
How the Mind is affected
by medication
Medication Video
12:25
BRAIN STIMULATION
THERAPIES
Electroconvulsive Therapy
• Biomedical therapy for
severely depressed
patients in which brief
electric current is sent
through the brain of an
anesthetized patient.
ECT Video
Repetitive Transcranial
magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
• Applies repeated
pulses of magnetic
energy to the brain;
used to stimulate
brain activity.
Psychosurgery
• Surgery that removes or destroys brain
tissue in an effort to change behavior.
Cameron Mott had half of her
cerebral cortex removed in
order to stop the seizures she
was experiencing.
Psychosurgery
• Surgery that removes or destroys brain
tissue in an effort to change behavior.
Egas Moniz developed the
lobotomy in the 1930s.
Ice pick like instrument through
the eye sockets cutting the links
between the frontal lobes and
the emotional control centers.
Lobotomy
Walter Freeman, the Lobotomist
Therapeutic Lifestyle Change
• Based on the idea that the mind and the
body are a unit – affect one and you affect
the other.
Therapeutic Lifestyle Change
• Aerobic Exercise
30 minutes a day, at least 3 times a week
• Adequate Sleep
A goal of 7 – 8 hours a night
• Light Exposure
At least 30 minutes each morning
• Social Connection
At least two meaningful social engagements per week
• Antirumination
Identifying and redirecting negative thoughts
• Nutritional Supplements
Assignment
Psychopharmacology in children and
adolescents is different than that of adults.
“The Medicated Child”