PSY 315 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Albert Hofmann, Nagai Nagayoshi, Morphine
Document Summary
Psychoactive: drugs change behavior by primarily acting directly on the nervous system (brain nerve cells, spinal cord) Other drugs may act on other organs; only considered psychoactive if it acts on the nervous system. Psychopharmacology = study of how drugs modify behavior. Studies all aspects of drugs (history, mechanism, use/abuse, short/long term effects, chemical basis of behavior, mental illness, teratology) *teratology [teratos: study of monsters] = scientific study of causes, mechanisms, and patterns of congenital abnormalities & abnormal formations. Causes of teratogenesis = toxic substances (teratogens; i. e. ki/potassium iodide), lack of nutrients, infection, alcohol, physical restraint. Long time yo: drug use by reindeer, llamas, goats, robins, people. Emphasis on cultural/ceremonial uses of drugs (holy men, magicians) Botanists believed that monotheistic ideas derived from human experiences with intense drugs: 15,000 b. c mushroom use in. [rome] dioscorides wrote the oldest book of herbals; [medieval. 19th century: rationalism/scientific thought brought more rationality to use of drugs to treat mental illness.
