Download Biological Therapy - Social Sciences @ Groby

Starter

Recap the three assumptions of the
biological approach on your miniwhiteboard.
Drug Therapy
EXAM CORNER
For this therapy you need to be able to...
•Describe how the assumptions of the approach are
applied in the therapy.
•Describe the main components (principles) of the therapy
•Evaluate the therapy in terms of effectiveness
•Evaluate the therapy in terms of ethical considerations
Learning Objectives
To understand a biological therapy (drugs).
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Success Criteria
1. Make notes in your booklet about the
action of three drugs.
2. Create a cartoon strip for how drugs
work in the body.
Challenge Attempt a practice
question on drug therapy.

Chemotherapy is a term used to
describe the use of psychoactive
drugs to treat mental disorders. The
word psychoactive means to treat a
psychological instead of a physical
condition. In 2009 a ¼ of all drugs
prescribed by the NHS were
psychoactive drugs.
How does the biological approach
apply to drug therapy?
1.
2.
3.
The aim of drugs to return the body to a normal level of
functioning caused by a disorder like depression,
schizophrenia or anxiety which had made an imbalance.
Another assumption of the biological approach is that
changes in the brain’s neurotransmitter systems will
affect our mood, feelings, perceptions and behaviour.
Therefore, psychotherapeutic drugs can be used to alter
the action of neurotransmitters and treat mental disorder.
In general, drug therapy operates by increasing or
blocking the action of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Drugs also work by targeting regions of the brain
associated with mental disorder. For example, the limbic
system regulates emotions, and disturbances in this part
of the brain may affect mood.
Antipsychotic drugs
Antipsychotic drugs
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Used to treat mental disorders, e.g.
schizophrenia.
They will have lost touch with reality and
has little insight into their condition.
Conventional antipsychotics are used to
combat the positive symptoms of
schizophrenia (e.g. delusions and
hallucinations).
The drug blocks the action of dopamine
by binding to (but not stimulating) the
dopamine receptor.
Atypical antipsychotic drugs temporarily
occupy the dopamine receptor and then
rapidly dissociating to allow normal
dopamine transmission. This leads to
lower side effects.
Antidepressant drugs
Antidepressant drugs
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Depression is thought to be
because of a lack of serotonin in
nerve endings (synapse).
Antidepressants work by reducing
the rate of neurotransmitters being
reabsorbed into nerve endings or
by blocking the enzymes which
break the neurotransmitters down.
These methods increase the
amount of neurotransmitters
available to excite neighbouring
nerve cells.
The most common antidepressants
are SSRIs – these block the
transporters that absorbs
serotonin, increasing the level in
the synapse.
Antianxiety drugs
Antianxiety drugs
Used to treat stress and anxiety.
 E.g. Benzodiazepines (BZs) – these
slow down the activity in the CNS.
 GABA is the body’s natural calming
neurotransmitter. BZs bind to the sites
on GABA receptors and enhance the
action of GABA.
 Serotonin has an arousing effect – BZs
reduce the increased activity associated
with anxiety.
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Beta-Blockers (BBs)
Beta-Blockers (BBs)
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Beta-Blockers (BBs) reduce the activity of
adrenaline and noradrenaline which are part of the
sympathomedullary response to stress.
These do not enter the brain, instead BBs bind to
the receptors in the heart and other parts of the
body that are stimulated during arousal
This reduces the activity of the autonomic nervous
system associated with arousal, i.e. reducing heartrate, blood pressure and cortisol levels.
There is therefore less stress on the heart and the
person feels calmer and less anxious.
These are sometimes used by snooker + darts
players and musicians to reduce the negative
effects on their performance.
Practice Questions
1.
2.
Demonstrate how a biological
assumption has been used in either
drugs OR psychosurgery. [10]
Apply your knowledge of the
assumptions of the biological and
behaviourist approaches to explain
addiction to gambling. [8]
Homework
Watch this video:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2ef
aHgJ93A&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVL
Y0jJY-uHOH9KVU6&index=36
 Check Weebly for the link 
