PHARMACOLOGY WITH LAB

Aim of this course is to provide a specific knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying both clinical efficacy and side effects of the psychotropic drugs used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.The course is designed to enhance the knowledge base of future psychologists in psychopharmacology working in medical settings, private practice, or other settings where the interaction with the psychiatrists is critical to improve patient care and manage patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. According to this aim a laboratory of Psychopharmacology will be planned during the course to evaluate the role of psychometric tests in the evaluation of the clinical efficacy of psychotropic drugs and in particular in the pharmacological treatment of depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and mild cognitive impairment.

The course will consist of lectures

A specific section of the course (laboratory of psychopharmacology) will be dedicated to discuss the potential applications of psychometric tests in the evaluation of the clinical efficacy of psychotropic drugs

The first part of the course will be dedicated to the general principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

During the second part of the course we will examine the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profile as well as the therapeutic indications of antidepressants, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics and hypnotics and antipsychotic drugs.

Specific topics will be then analyzed such as the neurobiological basis and pharmacological treatment of addiction, the possible role of psychotropic drugs for the treatment of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence, eating disorders and personality disorders. A specific session will be dedicated to geriatric psychopharmacology focusing on the neurobiological basis and pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and post-stroke depression.

A laboratory of Psychopharmacology will be planned with the aim to examine the role of psychometric tests in the pharmacological treatment of depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, Mild Cognitive impairment with the discussion of specific clinical cases.

1) Julien RM, Advokat CD, Comaty JE. A Primer of Drug Action. 2012, XII edition, pp. 1-248; pp. 519-621.

2) Stahl S. Essential Psychopharmacology. Fourth Edition, Cambridge University Press.