PSYC2101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Dopamine Agonist, Explanatory Gap, Antipsychotic
Document Summary
Some recreational drugs increase the risk of developing schizophrenia by a lot. Some studies found amphetamine increases the risk ~10x when you take it in adolesce. Amphetamine is a dopamine agonist - it increases levels of synaptic dopamine. Dopamine is involved in the etiology of (schizophrenia-like) psychotic symptoms, becau. Dopamine agonists produce symptoms similar to psychotic symptoms of sz. Bell (1973) gave 16 addicts large doses of methamphetamine and found th. Therapeutic dose strongly related to drug"s binding affinity for d2 recepto. Psychotic symptoms of sz are caused by hyperactivity of the dopaminergic system. Dopamine agonists (amphetamine) can cause schizophrenia-like psychotic symp. Sz patients show abnormally high levels of dopamine synthesis. Sz patients show high levels of dopamine receptors. However, the explanation that psychotic symptoms are caused by abnormally high le. Schneider identified the frs as the most characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia. The frs are actually diagnostic of sz according to some criteria.
