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MODULE 53 PREVIEW
Administration of antipsychotic, antianxiety, and antidepressant drugs constitutes the most widely used
biomedical therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy, although controversial, continues to be an effective
treatment for many severely depressed people who do not respond to drug therapy. Psychosurgery is
rarely used to alleviate specific problems largely because the effects are irreversible and potentially
drastic.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
1. To describe the drug therapies.
3. To describe electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery, and to explore reasons for the
controversy over these techniques.
MODULE GUIDE
Drug Therapies
1. Identify the common forms of drug therapy.
Psychopharmacology has revolutionized the treatment of severely disordered people. Antipsychotic
drugs, such as chlorpromazine, provide help to people experiencing the positive symptoms of auditory
hallucinations and paranoia by dampening their responsiveness to irrelevant stimuli. A newer drug,
clozapine, helps reanimate schizophrenia patients with the negative symptoms of apathy and withdrawal.
Antianxiety drugs such as Valium and Librium reduce tension and anxiety without causing excessive
sleepiness. For this reason they have been prescribed even for minor emotional stresses.
Antidepressants aim to lift people up, typically by increasing the availability of the neurotransmitters
norepinephrine and serotonin. For example, fluoxetine (Prozac) blocks the reabsorption and removal of
serotonin from the synapses. The simple salt lithium is often an effective mood stabilizer for those
suffering bipolar disorder.

Lectures: Fluoxetine (Prozac); Cosmetic Psychopharmacology; A Pill for Stage Fright (Anxiety)
 Transparencies: 144 Biology of Antidepressants; 145 Comparing Treatments for Depression
Videos: Module 33 of The Mind Series, 2nd ed.; Module 28 of The Brain series, 2nd ed.
Electroconvulsive Therapy and Psychosurgery
2. Describe the use of electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery in the treatment of psychological
disorders.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), or shock treatment, is a biomedical therapy for severely depressed
patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient. Although
ECT is credited with saving many from suicide, no one knows for sure how it works.
Psychosurgery removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior. For example, the
lobotomy was once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. In this now-rare
procedure, the nerves that connect the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain
are cut. Other psychosurgery is used only in extreme cases.
Lectures: Electroconvulsive Therapy; Cingulotomy
Video: Module 34 of The Mind Series, 2nd ed.