Resources for how do drugs work?

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The tasks for this 2nd topic are...
  1. First, to get an overview of the nervous system.
  2. To understand the importance of receptors and neuro-transmitters.
  3. To familiarise yourself with the different neuro-transmitters and what they do.
  4. To consider the classes of psychoactive drugs and their effect on receptors.
  5. To debate the motion: ‘Categorical diagnostic data are the backbone of good prescribing practice'.
  6. Finally, discussion with your study group or mentor to be sure you have understood how drugs work.
Resources for the How do drugs work? topic

 

This topic is central to making sense of people’s experiences of taking drugs or psychoactive medications. Practitioners can apply the principles described here to make rational prescribing and treatment planning decisions including an understanding of alcohol and drug harms and harm reduction strategies.

The brain and the workings of the central nervous system are hugely complicated, nevertheless a good grasp of the fundamentals of how psychoactive drugs interact with receptors explains most of their effects and side-effects as illustrated on the How do drugs work? page...

  • Look at the illustration of a neurone and read about how it works.
  • Understand agonist and antagonist receptors.
  • Familiarise yourself with the the different neuro-transmitters..
  • Watch the Mouse Party video.
  • Next look at all the different classes of drugs and how they work at receptor sites.

This link will take you to ▶︎ How do drugs work?

 

If you have done the Addiction Conversations module you will already have visited the Drug Screening page as an example of how to use Motivational Dialogue. Now look again with a view to pharmacotherapies...

  • Consider the reasons for and importance of drug and alcohol testing before commencing any pharmacotherapy
  • Look at the evidence for how screening works - what you can detect and how long you can detect it for
  • Consider the implications of these data for what you really can learn about a person’s drug use.

This link will take you to ▶︎ Drug Screening

When you are happy that you have done this task move on to record your Reflections