The Pharmacologic Basis of Psychotherapeutics

Starting with a brief history of the movement to obtain prescription privileges for psychologists, including the arguments on both sides of the issue, the book then describes the various purported mechanisms by which psychotropic drugs elicit their effects in the human body. The various drugs are introduced, and the processes of absorption, distribution and elimination, as well as the influence of age and disease on these processes. Attention is given to the methods of administration, adverse reactions and drug interactions. As the book assumes no prior knowledge of pharmacotherapy, it is specifically relevant for the graduate psychology student or post-graduate psychologist in clinical practice.