Drugs, Brain and Behavior

Course content

The course basically concerns the effects of psychoactive drugs on brain and behavior. The first part of the course will cover pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution and excretion of drugs from the body), pharmacodynamics (action site in the nervous system) of psychoactive drugs, risk factors in drug addiction, and contemporary biological theories in the development of tolerance, and addiction. The second part of the course will focus on neuroanatomical, neurochemical, physiological and behavioral effects of psychoactive drugs used in treatment of psychological disorders (e.g., antipsychotics, antidepressants, and antianxiety drugs) and psychoactive drugs with addiction potential (e.g., cocaine, heroin, nicotine, caffeine).