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Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment of Psychopathology: Course Introduction

Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment of Psychopathology: Course Introduction Program Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: Despite the fact that our understanding of the human body continues to advance with greater degrees of sophistication, our understanding of the human brain is less thorough. The human brain is the focal point of two very important fields of medicine, specifically neurology and psychiatry. However, in this course, it is the latter with which we will concern ourselves.

This course begins with a comprehensive overview of the functioning of the neuron, the foundational unit of the nervous system. Our emphasis will focus on the role of neurotransmitters and how they facilitate interneuronal communication. A variety of pathological states, collectively known as psychiatric illnesses, may be the result of abnormalities in the way in which neurotransmitters are synthesized or released.

Sometimes, the origin of psychiatric illness isn't the neurotransmitter synthesis or release, rather the way in which the neurotransmitter is transported or a problem with the receptor of the target cell that the neurotransmitter is attempting to cause a change in. Still other times, psychiatric conditions could arise from the presence of too much neurotransmitter in certain areas of the brain. It is with this complex collection of theoretical malfunctions that the field of psychopharmacology concerns itself.

The psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner must be aware of the theoretical neuronal tracts of the brain, which have been implicated in the production of a wide variety of psychiatric symptoms. The emphasis of contemporary psychopharmacology is the matching of symptoms to theoretically malfunctioning neuronal tracts. When symptoms are appropriately matched to theoretical brain structures reported to be responsible for expression of a variety of psychiatric illnesses, the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner will be capable of selecting the correct medications to alleviate problematic symptoms.

This course will require you to call upon your background as a professional nurse working with a wide range of patient populations. It will build on your knowledge of pathophysiology and pharmacology and will challenge you to develop expert knowledge in the field of psychopharmacology. Without this foundational knowledge base, you will not be able to meet the demands of later courses in this program, which will confront you with even more complex challenges. In short, your education as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner truly begins here.

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