Core Pharmacological Principles
- Brain structures & circuits involved in:
- Emotional regulation
- Executive function & inhibitory control
- Reward & pleasure
- Learning & memory
- Receptors and neurotransmitters important in the actions of psychopharmacological agents
- Biogenic amines
- Excitatory & inhibitory neurotransmitters
- Endorphins & endocannabinoids
- Collaboration & communication with prescribing professionals
- Managing the combined treatments
- Referrals for medication
- Client psycho-education
- Monitoring drug effects & side effects
- Promote adherence to combined treatments
Depressive Disorders
- Neurobiology of depression
- Drugs used to treat depressive disorders
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Effects, side effects and cautions
- Suicide risk & discontinuation syndrome
- Serotonin syndrome
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs)
- Effects, side effects, and cautions
- Atypical antidepressant agents
- Effects, side effects, and cautions
- Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
- Effects, side effects, and cautions
- Why were newer drugs needed?
- MAO inhibitors
- Effects, side effects, and cautions
- Choosing an antidepressant
- What if first-line antidepressants do not work?
- Augmentation with antipsychotics
- What about herbs like St. John’s Wort?
- Biological theories of schizophrenia
- ”Typical” & “atypical” antipsychotic drugs
- Effects, side effects & cautions – similarities & differences
- Latest evidence-based comparisons
- Drugs for treatment-resistant schizophrenia
- Other uses of antipsychotic drugs
- Biological theories for bipolar disorders
- Drugs used to treat bipolar disorders
- A prototype agent – lithium
- Effects, side effects & cautions
- Anticonvulsants
- Effects, side effects & cautions
- Antipsychotics – approved agents
- Combination drug therapy
- A prototype agent – lithium
- The neurobiology of anxiety-related disorders
- The structure of sleep
- Drugs used in the treatment of anxiety & insomnia
- Benzodiazepines & Benzodiazepine-like drugs
- Misuse of these drugs in treatment
- SSRI’s & other drugs used to treat anxiety
- ADHD
- Psycho-stimulants
- Effects, side effects & cautions
- Alpha-Adrenergic Agonists
- Psycho-stimulants
- Major neurocognitive disorders
- Drugs used in the treatment of cognitive impairment
- Future treatments
- Mental disorders & risk of comorbid prescription drug abuse
- Classes of drugs that are frequently abused
- Stimulants
- Sedative-hypnotics
- Opiates
- Strategies for the prevention & early identification of prescription drug abuse


