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Psychopharmacology

How drugs that act on the brain change mood, thinking and behavior — and how the body handles those drugs along the way.

Cause → effect → explain Diagram study Midterm study guide Review

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Clinical trials and drug policy

How randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials show a drug works; expectancy (placebo and nocebo); the phases of drug development; the Controlled Substances Act schedules; and the War on Drugs, decriminalization and legalization.

Why it matters: This is how we know any claim about a drug is true — and how law, not only pharmacology, decides which drugs are medicines and which are crimes.
You'll be able to: Critique a drug trial's design, explain placebo and nocebo effects, place a drug in its schedule, and distinguish decriminalization from legalization.

Randomized controlled trials: randomize, control, blind

Explains the three design features that let a randomized controlled trial (RCT) show a drug works — randomization, a placebo control and double-blinding — and the ways real trials fall short.

Connects to Primary effects and side effects · Fundamentals and course themes
Connects to The course lens: biopsychosocial, and no 'chemical imbalance' · Fundamentals and course themes
Unlocks Expectancy: placebo and nocebo effects
Unlocks Phases of drug trials: from animals to Phase IV

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