Brain Function and Psychotropic Drugs

This revised edition offers an integrated approach to brain sciences, covering the whole range of normal and abnormal brain function and the effects of drugs on the human brain. It provides a general view of how the brain functions in health and disease and how drugs may cause disorders.

This book adopts a unique integrated approach to the neurosciences and psychopharmacology. Drawing from many disciplines, it describes the function of the brain systems governing human behavior--systems for waking and sleeping, learning and memory, reward and punishment. It considers how dysfunction in these systems can lead to a variety of disorders, including anxiety states and sleep disturbance, memory disorders, drug dependence, chronic pain syndromes, and psychoses. In each case, it discusses the mechanisms of action of psychotropic drugs and how they affect normally and abnormally functioning systems. The first edition of this book, Brain Systems, Disorders, and Psychotropic Drugs, fulfilled the need for a single volume to bridge the gap between laboratory-based and clinical disciplines in the neurosciences. Recent advances have increased the importance of an integrated approach to normal and abnormal brain function and psychotropic drugs. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to cover these advances, in areas as diverse as receptor pharmacology, brain imaging techniques, and neuropathology of psychiatric disease, as well as the introduction of whole new classes of psychotropic drugs. It will be of use to all those concerned with the workings of the brain, whether for teaching, research, or clinical practice. It will be of particular interest to clinicians prescribing drugs for neuropsychiatric disorders, or dealing with dependence and drug-related problems. In addition, the shortened text and wide scope of the book will increase its appeal to students of many disciplines related to neuroscience.