Summary of content:
1. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
2. Analysing the behavioural effects of drugs
4. Psychopharmacology of drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders
5. Biological bases of addiction
KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES:
On completion of this module the student is expected to be able to:
1. Describe the basic principles of pharmacokinetics.
2. Describe the nature of drug-receptor interactions.
3. Interpret dose-response functions for psychoactive drug effects.
4. Explain why individuals differ in responsiveness to drugs.
5. Critically evaluate studies of drug action on behaviour from the perspective of appropriate methodology.
6. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of drug treatments for diverse psychological problems.
7. Evaluate the acute and long-term consequences of psychoactive drug use (both for recreational and therapeutic drugs).
8. Describe the neural substrates of reward and addiction
9. Evaluate different theories of addiction