Take a look at this lecture by Karen L. Swartz, M.D. that was delivered during the John Hopkins 25th Annual Mood Disorders Research/Education Symposium entitled: Antidepressants & the Placebo Controversies.
Use the APUS Online Library to look up information on a particular drug used to treat a neurological or psychiatric disorder. If you are unable to find material in the Library on the particular drug you select, you may use other credible online sources. Any additional sources used must be websites with scientifically grounded information. Avoid .org sites which are frequently established by persons suffering from the same disorder and/or their family members and can be important sources of support for those persons, but which may also contain unsubstantiated and personal perspective based information. Also avoid using pharmaceutical sites as your only source of information; while they may look scientific, they also are maintained by companies in the business of manufacturing and selling medications. WebMD is an example of a web source which contains scientifically grounded information about treatments for various disorders including neurological and psychiatric ones. The sources you use must be no more than 5 years old.
Report what you find for each of the categories below:
The class of the drug
The mechanism of action
Receptor sites the drug targets
The drug’s main affect
Unexpected effects and side effects and drug interactions
Non-FDA uses of the drug
Discuss with your classmates what was surprising to you as a psychology student and a consumer. What aspects of these drugs were comforting to you? What aspects did you find concerning? Why
