The lecture reviewed major classes of psychopharmacology, focusing on neurotransmitters, side effects, patient education, and self-care for mental health students.
Self-Care, Study Habits, and Learning Styles
Listen to PowerPoints for mental health content review.
Schedule daily, dedicated study times and treat them as appointments.
Incorporate daily exercise for overall well-being.
Make a study contract with family to minimize interruptions.
Use provided resources: neurotransmitter sheet, pharmacology sheet, brain diagram, and post-lecture quiz.
Neuroscience, Brain Anatomy, and Neurotransmitters
Antidepressants work by increasing monoamines in the synaptic gap via reuptake inhibition.
GABA (an amino acid neurotransmitter) reduces neuron excitability and is enhanced by benzodiazepines/anxiolytics.
Frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes control movement, emotion, sensory input, auditory processing, and vision.
The limbic system manages emotions and social behavior.
The sympathetic nervous system triggers fight-or-flight; the parasympathetic calms the body.
Psychopharmacology: Antidepressants, Mood Stabilizers, and Key Side Effects
Nurses must educate on medication classes: SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclics, MAOIs, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics.
SSRIs (sertraline, citalopram) treat depression/anxiety but can cause suicidal thoughts, insomnia, weight gain, and serotonin syndrome.
Antipsychotics, Extrapyramidal Symptoms, and Nursing Interventions
MAOIs with tyramine-rich foods can cause dangerous hypertensive crisis; avoid certain foods and OTC drugs.
Bupropion is used for depression, ADHD, smoking cessation, and can increase bleeding with warfarin.
Mood stabilizers like lithium can be toxic (early: nausea/diarrhea; late: tremors/vomiting).
Antipsychotics may cause EPS (involuntary movements), monitor and educate patients accordingly.
Psychiatric medications must be tapered—never stopped abruptly; avoid alcohol.
Anxiolytics, Sedative-Hypnotics, Stimulants, and Patient Education
Antipsychotics can cause neuroleptic malignant syndrome, sedation, low BP, and anticholinergic effects.
Clozapine requires weekly WBC checks for agranulocytosis; watch for sore throat, fever, malaise.
Antidepressants/antipsychotics may take weeks to be effective; educate patients and families.
Sedative-hypnotics require O2 monitoring, are contraindicated in pregnancy, elderly, or kidney disease; avoid abrupt discontinuation and alcohol.
Stimulants for ADHD (methylphenidate, amphetamines) can cause insomnia, weight loss, increased BP, hallucinations; never combine with MAOIs; taper doses.
Key Terms & Definitions
Monoamines — neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine) targeted by many antidepressants.
Extrapyramidal Symptoms (EPS) — involuntary movements caused by antipsychotics.
Serotonin Syndrome — potentially fatal reaction marked by rigidity, confusion, seizures, often due to drug interactions.
Agranulocytosis — dangerously low white blood cell count, especially with clozapine.
Circadian Rhythm — 24-hour body cycle influencing sleep and hormone release.
Action Items / Next Steps
Review pharmacology and neurotransmitter sheets.
Complete post-lecture quiz.
Practice identifying side effects and appropriate nursing interventions for each medication class.