5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition - Laura Lincoln Maitland [162]
Cognitive therapies have been demonstrated to be effective in treating depression, eating disorders, chronic pain, marital discord, and anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and social phobia).
Biological/Biomedical Treatments
Biological psychologists believe that abnormal behavior results from neurochemical imbalances, abnormalities in brain structures, or possibly some genetic predisposition. Treatments, therefore, include psychopharmacotherapy (the use of psychotropic drugs to treat mental disorders), electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery. Medical doctors, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and a limited number of clinical psychologists can prescribe psychoactive drugs. Four major classifications of psychotropic drugs are anxiolytics (antianxiety medications), antidepressants, stimulants, and neuroleptics (antipsychotics).
Tranquilizers
Anxiolytics, also called tranquilizers and antianxiety drugs, include quick-acting benzodiazepines such as the widely prescribed drugs Valium (diazepam), Librium (chlordiazepoxide), and Xanax (alprazolam); and slow-acting BuSpar (buspirone). Benzodiazepines increase availability of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA to the limbic system and reticular activating system where arousal is too high, reducing the anxiety felt by the patient. Other therapies such as visualization, relaxation, and time management can be used in conjunction with drugs so that the drugs may be tapered off over time, because patients can develop unpleasant side effects and build up a tolerance to these compounds. Anxiolytics are helpful in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorder.
Antidepressants
Antidepressant medications elevate mood by making monoamine neurotransmitters including serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine more available at the synapse to stimulate postsynaptic neurons. Types of antidepressants include monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), which inhibit the effects of chemicals that break down norepinephrine and serotonin; tricyclics, which inhibit reuptake of serotonin; selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which inhibit reuptake only of serotonin; and atypical antidepressants (sometimes called non-SSRIs), some of which may inhibit reuptake of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, or a combination of two of them. Commonly advertised SSRls include paroxetine (Paxil), fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), citalopram (Celexa, Lexapro), and fluvoxamine (Luvox). Non-SRRIs include bupropion (Wellbutrin) and velafaxine HCL (Effexor XR). They have all been found effective for treating depression, and some have also been found effective for treating anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For treatment of bipolar disorder, lithium has been widely used to stabilize mood, alone or with antidepressants. Anti-seizure medicines used to treat epilepsy, such as valproic acid (Depakene), divalproex (Depakote), and Topiramate (Topamax) have also been used.
Stimulants
Stimulants are psychoactive drugs, such as Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine), that activate motivational centers and reduce activity in inhibitory centers of the central nervous system by increasing activity of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine neurotransmitter systems. They are used to treat people with narcolepsy and people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Antipsychotics
The last class of drugs, neuroleptics, are powerful medicines that lessen agitated behavior, reduce tension, decrease hallucinations and delusions, improve social behavior, and produce better sleep behavior, especially in schizophrenic patients. An excess of dopamine is thought to be the cause of the schizophrenic symptoms; neuroleptics block dopamine receptors.