NRSC4482 - Clinical Psychopharmacology

This course examines the history, rationale and putative mechanism of action of drugs used in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Emphasis is placed on neurobiological processes underlying psychopathology and pharmacological intervention. Drugs currently in use as well as new drugs in development will be covered. Strategies, techniques, issues and challenges of clinical psychopharmacological research will be addressed and new approaches to drug discovery, including the use of pharmacogenomics and proteomics to understand variability in drug response and identify new molecular drug targets, will be covered in depth. Specific drug classes to be considered include antidepressants, anxiolytics, typical and atypical antipsychotics, narcotic analgesics, sedative hypnotics, and antiepileptic medications. A contrasting theme throughout the course will be the use of drugs as probes to identify neural substrates of behavior.