Drugs & Psychology
Depressant
- Alcohol is GABA (depresses nervous system activity) & serotonin (drowsy effect) Agonist
Antidepressant
- Depression treated by blocking serotonin reuptake (agonistic)--improves mood
Antipsychotic
- Schizophrenia treated with dopamine blockers (antagonistic)--reduce delusions & hallucinations but can impair motor skills (dopamine in the basal ganglia)
- Parkinson’s disease can be treated with dopamine agonists (increase amount of dopamine) like L-DOPA