PSY 034 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Muscle Relaxant, Junk Food, Electroconvulsive Therapy

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Psychology (PSY)
• Course: PSY 034
• Professor: Vannasone

Document Summary

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (ssris: prozac is the most popular ssri. Treatment of mood disorders: antimanic medication lithium. Common salt found in the natural environment, including drinking water. Primary treatment for bipolar disorders often effective in preventing and treating manic episodes. Narrow therapeutic window side effects may be severe, and dosage must be carefully regulated to prevent toxicity (poisoning) and lowered thyroid functioning: too late ineffective, too much toxic, lethal. Ect is used for severely depressed patients who do not respond to drugs. The patient is anesthetized and given a muscle relaxant to prevent bone breakage from convulsions during seizures and is then administered a brief (less than 1 second) electric shock introduced to the brain. The result is brief convulsions lasting for several minutes. Patients usually get a 100 volt shock that relieves them of depression. Highly efficacy approximately 50% of persons not responding to medication benefit from ect.