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Answers:1. The four types of
drugs are: anti- depressants, antipsychotics, antianxiety drugs,and lithium carbonate.
2. The biological approach assumes that there is a biological cause to the problem.
3. Possible answers include: depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, psychosomatic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder.
Reader’s Guide
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Main Idea– Biological approaches to treatment rely on
methods such as medications, electric shock, and surgery to help clients.
Objectives
– Give examples of treatment medicines and their effects on patients.
– Explain biological approaches to treatment.
Reader’s Guide (cont.)
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Psychology.
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Vocabulary
– antipsychotic drugs
– antidepressants
– lithium carbonate
– antianxiety drugs
– electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
– psychosurgery
– prefrontal lobotomy
– drug therapy
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• Some experts believe that biological therapies, such as medications, should be reserved for people who fail to respond to psychotherapy.
• Other experts believe that a combination of psychotherapy and biological therapy is the answer for many patients.
Introduction
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• Biological approaches to treatment assume there is an underlying physiological reason for the psychological disorder.
• Biological therapy uses methods such as medication, electric shock, and surgery to help people with psychological disorders.
• Since these treatments are medical in nature, physicians or psychiatrists must administer them.
Biological Therapy
• Drug therapy involves four main types of medications: antipsychotic drugs, antidepressant drugs, lithium, and antianxiety drugs.
• Often, drugs treat only the symptoms; drug therapy does not remove the causes of the disorder.
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• The most widely used biological therapy for psychological disorders is drug therapy.
drug therapybiological therapy that uses medications
Drug Therapy
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• Today patients with schizophrenia are usually prescribed antipsychotic drugs.
antipsychotic drugsmedication to reduce agitation, delusions, and hallucinations by blocking
• These medicines inhibit dopamine receptor sites.
• While these drugs reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia, there can be unpleasant side effects, such as muscular rigidity, impaired coordination, and tremors.
Drug Therapy (cont.)
Antipsychotic Drugs
the activity of dopamine in the brain; tranquilizers
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• Another class of drugs, called antidepressants, relieves depression.
antidepressantsmedication to treat major depression by increasing the amount of one or both of the
neurotransmitters non adrenaline and serotonin
• These drugs are also used for cases of anxiety, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
• Antidepressants may have unpleasant side effects, such as dizziness, fatigue, forgetfulness, and weight gain.
Drug Therapy (cont.)
Antidepressant Drugs
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• The chemical lithium carbonate is widely used to return manic-depressive people to a state of equilibrium in which extreme mood swings disappear.
lithium carbonatea chemical used to treat mood swings of bipolar disorder
• Lithium is a natural chemical element that controls levels of norepinephrine.
• Lithium can cause side effects if it is not administered under proper medical supervision.
Drug Therapy (cont.)
Lithium Carbide
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• Commonly known as sedatives or mild tranquilizers, antianxiety drugs are used to reduce excitability and cause drowsiness.
antianxiety drugsmedication that relieves anxiety and panic disorders by depressing the activity of the central nervous system
• These drugs are effective for helping normal people cope with difficult periods in their lives.
Drug Therapy (cont.)
Antianxiety Drugs
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• They are also prescribed for the alleviation of various anxiety-based symptoms, psychosomatic problems, and symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
• These drugs do reduce anxiety but the best use seems to be not for chronic anxiety but for dealing with acute (one-time) anxiety (Mellinger, Balter, & Uhlenhuth, 1985).
Drug Therapy (cont.)
Antianxiety Drugs
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• “Shock treatment,” as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is commonly called, has proved extremely effective in the treatment of severe depression, although no one understands exactly how it works (Kalinowsky, 1975).
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)an electrical shock is sent through the brain to try to reduce the symptoms of mental distrurbance
• It involves administering, over several weeks, a series of brief electrical shocks.
Electroconvulsive Therapy
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• The shock induces a convulsion in the brain similar to an epileptic seizure that may last up to a minute.
• As it is now applied, electroconvulsive therapy entails very little discomfort for the patient.
• Even with these improvements, however, electroconvulsive therapy is a drastic treatment and must be used with great caution.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (cont.)
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• Brain surgery that is performed to treat psychological disorders is called psychosurgery.
psychosurgerysurgery that destroys part of the brain to make the patient calmer and freer of symptoms
prefrontal lobotomya radical form of psychotherapy in which a section of the frontal lobe of the brain is severed or destroyed
• The most common operation–prefrontal lobotomy–involves destruction of the front portion of the brain, just behind the forehead.
Psychosurgery
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• This part of the brain, the frontal lobe, contains most of the nerve connections that control a person’s emotions.
• The practice of prefrontal lobotomies decreased significantly, though, when newly developed drugs offered alternative treatments in the mid-1950s.
• At the same time, mounting evidence appeared that showed that lobotomized patients showed an inability to plan.
• Today the use of psychosurgery is controversial and rare.
Psychosurgery (cont.)
Figure 4-1Deinstitutionalization
Section Assessment
Review the Vocabulary Describe how antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants, and antianxiety drugs work as therapy.
These approaches to treatment assume that there is an underlying physiological reason for the disturbed behavior. They treat only the symptoms of the disorders; they do not remove the causes of the disorders.
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Section 4-Assessment 3Section Assessment (cont.)
Recall Information Why is psychosurgery controversial? Why is it used?
It cannot be reversed and may have unintended results . It may be used in extreme cases that have not responded to other forms of treatment.
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Section 4-Assessment 4Section Assessment (cont.)
Think Critically Describe a situation in which you believe a therapist would suggest biological therapy involving psychosurgery for a patient.
A person who has lost contact with reality and cannot obtain insight from psychotherapy or a person who is suicidal or has a severe psychological disorder and has not responded to psychotherapy or drug therapy may be a candidate for psychosurgery.
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Section 4-Assessment CloseSection Assessment (cont.)
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Compare the effectiveness of biological therapies to other forms of treatment discussed in the chapter.
End of Section 4
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