Psych 335:  Behavioral Pharmacology

Course Description:

Abuse of recreational drugs looms as an ever-growing problem in our society. Prescriptions for behavior altering drugs such as Prozac, Clozapine and Ritalin are at an all time high, and increasing. Many baby-boomers are beginning to show the onset of neurodegenerative disorders that will require more geriatric pharmacological treatment than we are prepared to give... It's time to start learning a little about Behavioral Pharmacology. This course is designed to introduce you to the basic pharmacology of drugs that directly affect brain function and behavior. To succeed in this course, you will need a fairly good understanding of biology to follow the descriptions of pharmacological actions of drugs. You will also need to understand the general behavioral phenomena of major psychiatric disorders (i.e. depression, schizophrenia, neurodegenerative disorders, addiction). Finally, you will need to make an intuitive leap to understand how pharmacology can induce and/or alter human behavior.