PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
Learning outcomes of the course unit
The course describes the main features of psychotropic drugs and how these drugs affect human behavior
Course contents summary
The course describes the main features of psychotropic drugs and how these drugs affect human behavior.
Course contents
1 Concept of psychotropic drug.
2 Pharmacological activity of psychotropic drugs. a) Access of drugs to the central nervous system; b) Mechanisms of action at the neuronal level; c) Variability in the response to psychotropic drugs: desensitization, tolerance, physical and psychological dependence; d) Pharmacogenetics.
3 Main classes of psychotropic drugs: sedative-anxiolytics, antipsychotics, antimanic, antidepressants, psychostimulants (cocaine and congeners), psychodysleptics (psychotomimetic).
4 Neuropsychopharmacology of morphine and opiates.
5 Drug-induced behavioural neurotoxicology
Recommended readings
Students can refer to textbooks for postgraduate courses, such as: BG Katzung: Basic & clinical Pharmacology, Twelfth edition, Secion V: Drugs acting on the central nervous system, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2012.
Slides of lessons are available at the end of the course.
Students can refer to textbooks for postgraduate courses, such as: BG Katzung: Basic & clinical Pharmacology, Twelfth edition, Secion V: Drugs acting on the central nervous system, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2012.
Slides of lessons are available at the end of the course.
Teaching methods
Ex-cathedra lectures
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral examen
Other informations
Learning objectives (in relation to the Dublin descriptors)
1 Knowledge and understanding. Students will be teached about the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of the main psychotropic drugs, as well as signs and symptoms that develop when drugs are administered to (or taken by) human beings.
2 Applying knowledge and understanding. Students will be able to apply the knowledge gained in the functional context of the central nervous system.
3 Making judgments. Students will gain the concept of drug treatment as a complement (and not as an alternative) to psychotherapy (and vice-versa).
4 Communication. Students will acquire the knowledge and terminology to describe behavioural and cognitive actions of drugs.
5 Lifelong learning skills. Students should be able to use the acquired knowledge to understand and interpret data in the literature relative of drugs acting at the central nervous system and their cognitive and behavioral effects.
