PSYB65H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Methanol, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Morphine
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Lecture 8 PSYb65
Depressants – categorized into barbiturates, non-barbiturates,
alcohol
o Barbiturates
helps people sleep/relax but doesn’t allow for REM
sleep
work through Gava(primary inhibitory amino acid
neurotransmitter in brain), increase of gava=slow
things down, barbiturates bind to Gava receptors
decreases activity in the brain
also synergistic with other sedatives (additive if
you put them together, not independent)
biggest group they’re used for are elderly
withdrawal: potential for seizures depending on
how much you’ve taken them, can administer
other depressants in place to reduce withdrawal
(alcohol)
o Alcohol
CNS depressant, produced by yeast digesting
sugar and excreting alcohol
most damaging to society – largest admissions to
mental hospitals (40%), 55% of all arrests, 50-
75% yo all homicides, 50% of death by car
accidents, 20% suicides
US prohibited sale of alcohol from 1920-30, drop
in all these problems, by 1930 all those numbers
were back up in addition to more problems ,
people making methyl alcohol leads to
blindness/death…repealed the law…lesson: if
people really want a drug in a free society, they’ll
find a way to do it
Instead of trying to take it away, educate people
about it
Physiology – absorbed directly through stomach
wall, very high source of energy, 200 cals per
ounce, fastest source of energy because it goes
straight into blood stream, cannot enter any
metabolic pathway that can turn it into fat, causes
brain to decrease ADH production (causes to
excrete more fluids) leads to dehydration
Effects Gava receptor or slowing metabolic
activity/altering membrane excitability, don’t
know for sure how it works