Anatomy, Physiology, and Neurochemistry:  A Review of Body and Brain Systems plus Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics.

Overview:  To understand how drugs work, students must have a basic understanding of how the body and brain works.  This includes some basic brain chemistry.  In addition, students must understand how drugs move through the body (pharmacokinetics) and their basic mechanisms of action (pharmacodynamics).  In general, if a person can understand these basic processes, the understanding of each individual compound becomes simpler.

Goal:  This section is designed to expose you to how drugs move through the body and how drugs influence basic systems.

Objectives:  In this section you will learn about the brain and basic chemical processes that work in the brain.   You will also understand how drugs move through the body and mechanisms they impact.

Outcomes:  KSA #4  Recognize the potential for substance use disorders to mimic a variety of medical and psychological disorders and the potential for medical and psychological disorders to co-exist with addiction and substance abuse.

To understand how the brain works

To understand how drugs move through the body.

Tasks:  

1.  Read chapters 1 - 3 in  Julian.  Pay close attention to how drugs work, and basic brain functioning.  

2.  Read chapters 1-7 in Thompson.  This is primarily for review.  Note how the systems interact together.  Pay close attention to synaptic transmission, peptides and neurotransmitters.

3.  Go to the following website www.class.uidaho.edu/psyc372  Then, click on lesson 7.  View the various PowerPoint presentations in the section and listen to the accompanying audio file. 

There is no written assignment due for this topic

Resources:

You can also get other information by using various search engines to learn about particular brain structures.

Discussion  for Topic 1.