Biological Approach- Drug Therapy

Question 1

Main Components

Answer 1

• Antipsychotics, conventional and atypical. Used to treat mental health conditions where the client has lost touch with reality
• Conventional, bind to dopamine receptors to treat positive symptoms- has more side effects. Atypical bind to dopamine receptors and can rapidly disassociate to reduce side effects

Question 2

Main Components 2

Answer 2

• Antidepressants, SSRI’s, increase activity of dopamine by reducing how much is reabsorbed by the pre-synaptic neurone or by blocking the enzyme that breaks it down so more is left in the synapse for the post-synaptic neurone to absorb
• Antianxiety, Benzodiazepines, enhance activity of GABA which is the body’s natural anxiety relief & Beta Blockers, reduce anxiety of adrenaline and noradrenaline around the body by binding receptors to make you calmer.

Question 3

Evaluation

Answer 3

-Drugs vs Placebo, more effective in randomised control trials. Soomro: Meta analysis of 17 studied using SSRI’s on OCD patients and found they were effective for 3 months after treatment.
Kahn: 250 patients over 8 weeks with Bzs and found they were better than placebos
-Side effects, if severe they will stop taking them and relapse, can take weeks to work, lead to withdrawal, nausea, headache, insomnia, harder drugs, irregular heartbeat.
Ethics- Valid consent, Placebos- no patient should be given a treatment known to be inferior