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.
Look up information on a particular drug used to treat a neurological or psychiatric disorder. use only credible online sources.
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?
