Chapter 1 - Introduction

Question 1

Psychopharmacology

Answer 1

study of how drugs affect mood, perception, cognition, and behaviour

Question 2

Psychoactive drugs

Answer 2

drugs that have effects on mood, perception, cognition, and behaviour by acting on the CNS

Question 3

Why study psychopharmacology?

Answer 3

we are consumers; greater knowledge improves patient understanding; drugs can be used as research tools

Question 4

What is a drug?

Answer 4

an administered substance that affects physiological functioning

Question 5

What is not a drug?

Answer 5

substances made in the body but can still be given in a hospital (ex. norepinephrine to raise BP)

Question 6

Instrumental drug use

Answer 6

used to accomplish a specific purpose

Question 7

Psychotropic drugs

Answer 7

drugs used to treat a psychological disorder (ex. ativan for anxiety)

Question 8

Recreational drug use

Answer 8

used to experience drug affects (smoking weed to get high)

Question 9

Drug misuse

Answer 9

using a drug recreationally that was intended for instrumental use only; often leads to dependency

Question 10

Trade name (naming drugs)

Answer 10

a trademarked name assigned by the company that created the drug ex. Valium (Hoffman-La Roche)

Question 11

Generic name (naming drugs)

Answer 11

a nonproprietary name that classifies a drug in a given category and distinguishes it from other drugs in that category ex. Diazepam (a benzodiazepine)

Question 12

Street name (naming drugs)

Answer 12

colloquial terms for a drug; used by individuals who use, sell, or make drugs for recreation (ex. dope, jellies, vallies)

Question 13

Chemical name (naming drugs)

Answer 13

detail a drugs chemical structure per rules set forth by the Intl Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ex. 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)

Question 14

Dose

Answer 14

drug affect is determined by its dose; defined as the ratio of the amount of drug per body weight

Question 15

Dose-response/dose-effect curves

Answer 15

depict magnitude of a drug effect over a range of doses

Question 16

Effective dose

Answer 16

a dose that produces some percentage of a target response OR a dose at which a certain percentage of individuals display some target response (ex. ED50 is a dose that produces 50% of some response OR a dose that produces a target response in 50% of individuals)

Question 17

Potency

Answer 17

Determined by the amount of drug required for some level of effect; the lower the dose required for some effect, the more potent

Question 18

Toxic dose (TD)

Answer 18

dose that produces some toxic effect in a certain % of individuals (ex. TD50 is a dose that produces a toxic effect in 50% of individuals

Question 19

Therapeutic Index

Answer 19

difference in toxic and therapeutic doses of a drug; dose used for some treatment

Question 20

Certain Safety Index

Answer 20

divide TD1 by ED99, ideally don’t want the two dose responses to overlap; CSI >1

Question 21

Addiditve drug effects

Answer 21

the magnitude of the combined effect is the sum of each drug’s effect

Question 22

Synergistic drug effect

Answer 22

the combined effect is greater than the sum of each drug’s effect

Question 23

Pharmacodynamics

Answer 23

refers to the physiological actions of the drugs (ex. effect of a drug on a particular receptor site in the brain)

Question 24

Pharmacokinetics

Answer 24

refers to how drugs pass through and are eliminated from the body (ex. how readily does the drug pass into blood stream/brain, how is it metabolized, how long does it remain in the body)

Question 25

Pharmacogenetics

Answer 25

refers to the study of how genetic differences influence both pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics

Question 26

Correlational study

Answer 26

no alteration of study conditions; changes in study variables are observed and relationships are observed; cant state causal effect with certainty

Question 27

Experimental study

Answer 27

researchers alter a study's independent variable and observe changes in a dependent variable; experiments can identify causal relationships between an independent and a dependent variable

Question 28

Placebo

Answer 28

a substance that is made to be identical in appearance to drug but is inert; controls for expectation effects

Question 29

Active placebo

Answer 29

may have certain side effects to be more convincing

Question 30

Single blind experiment

Answer 30

participants do not know which treatment they received

Question 31

Double blind experiment

Answer 31

neither the participants nor the researcher know the treatment assignments

Question 32

Open label experiments

Answer 32

does not involve blinded procedures because of ethical consequences or impracticality (ex. anti cancer drug would be unethical to withhold)

Question 33

Objective effects

Answer 33

drug effects that can be directly observed by others (ex. sobriety test, BP, HR)

Question 34

Subjective effects

Answer 34

drug effects that cannot be directly observed (ex. mood, perceptual effects)

Question 35

Why are animals used for psychopharmacological research?

Answer 35

there are no viable alternatives; have a relatively high internal validity, construct validity, and predictive validity

Question 36

Internal validity

Answer 36

the degree of confidence that the causal relationship being tested is trustworthy and not influenced by other factors or variables

Question 37

Construct validity

Answer 37

how well a set of indicators represent or reflect a concept that is not directly measurable; the accumulation of evidence to support the interpretation of what a measure reflects ex. animals model essential features of conditions in humans

Question 38

Predictive validity

Answer 38

addresses how well a specific tool predicts future behavior ex. animals can predict drugs that MAY also be effective in humans

Question 39

What are the three Rs in the regulation of animal research?

Answer 39

replace, reduce, refine (use other models when possible, number of animals to a minimum, minimize harm/pain)

Question 40

External validity

Answer 40

ability to generalize findings beyond the immediate testing conditions (ex. to other populations) ex. drug may work in study population (mine, normal/healthy humans) but not in another population (humans/with a psychological or medical cond.)

Question 41

Informed consent

Answer 41

free choice; cannot force anyone to participate

Question 42

Low risk/benefit

Answer 42

benefits must outweigh the risks

Question 43

How many phases are in a clinical trial?

Answer 43

4 phases