Psychopharmacology: Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior

by Jerrold S. Meyer, Linda F. Quenzer

Recent advances in molecular pharmacology and brain imaging have revolutionized our understanding of how psychoactive drugs work. Now, from the authors of Principles of Neuropsychopharmacology, comes a new undergraduate textbook integrating these developments. The first section of the book provides extensive foundation materials, including the basic principles of pharmacology, neurophysiology and neuroanatomy, synaptic transmission, and methods in psychopharmacology. The second section describes key features of major neurotransmitter systems, including the catecholamines, serotonin, acetylcholine, glutamate and GABA. The third and fourth sections discuss theories and mechanisms of drug addiction and psychopathology. All major substances of abuse as well as drugs used to treat mental illness are covered. Drugs, the Brain and Behavior is unique in its breadth of coverage, ranging from historical accounts of drug use to clinical and preclinical behavioral studies to the latest research on drug effects in transgenic mouse models. Student engagement with the material is fostered by opening each chapter with a relevant vignette and by providing breakout boxes presenting novel or cutting-edge topics for special discussion. The book is extensively illustrated with full-color photographs and line art depicting important concepts and experimental data. Drugs, the Brain and Behavior is appropriate for undergraduate psychopharmacology or drugs and behavior courses that emphasize relationships between the behavioral effects of psychoactive drugs and their mechanisms of action.

Genres: Psychology, Neuroscience, Textbooks, Science, School, Nonfiction, Biology

Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the text I used for my psychopharmacology class this past fall and spring. Altogether, it is a pretty decent text. The figures are very clear and are described thoroughly within the text, lending some clarity to the concepts that are being described. Also, the text doesn't assume a strong background in chemistry, which helped many of the students navigate through the section on pharmacokinetics without too much self-loathing. My one complaint is that for each of the major neurotransmitter systems that are reviewed, there seems to be an emphasis on lists of drugs that affect that neurotransmitter system and not much in terms of the behavior that is affected by each neurotransmitter system. I am willing to bet that most students take this class because they want to know how neurochemistry affects behavior, rather than to memorize lists of drugs (I found this problem to be especially acute in the norepinephrine section). I ended up glossing over most of the drugs covered in the text and assigned supplemental journal articles that illuminated some of the behaviors that were relevant for each section. On the whole, this is a really decent undergraduate psychopharmacology textbook

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives a very good introduction to psychopharmacology that begins with the very basics of neurotransmission and builds upon this to explain more complicated modulation of signaling pathways that allow drugs to work.

[Joseph Learned · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly difficult to read, but is worth the effort. High quality graphics really enhance the reading experience.

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the Meyer text remains a stalwart of any intro psychopharm course (at both advanced undergraduate and graduate levels), it falls flat in many regards. It assails the jejune psych-major with a plethora of ochem terminologies and skeletal formulae. These require a full year of coursework in both the general and organic chemistries. While this is not much to ask of a neuroscientist or undergraduate medical student, I would imagine many a B.A. Psych student being overwhelmed by the text. The textbook is formatted inappropriately (like a humanities text), considering the amount of neuropharmacological information presented. I found it a struggle to read in this regard: markedly unscientific. In particular, in-text citations were difficult to follow. Discussion shifts abruptly from physiology into behaviour. Cartoonish figures are overwhelming and detract from the information presented.

In short, it would be best for Sinauer to rebrand this work as a Neuropsychopharm text -- or to shift the emphasis to the relationship between overt behaviour, rather than cellular physiology and MOAs. Recommended instead is Molecular Neuropharmacology: A Foundation for Clinical Neuroscience or Hille's classic Ion Channels of Excitable Membranes, Third Edition. Even the simplified, occasionally-camp Stahl text is a step up from this fragmented work.

[Eric Herod · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introductory text to psychopharmacology. Previous knowledge of fundamental concepts in behavioral neuroscience would be helpful to the reader but I think this book is accessible to anyone interested in the subject. The beginning chapters focus on giving the reader basic knowledge of neuronal structure and function before delving into interactions of several drug classes and their mechanisms of action. Topics focus mainly on drugs of abuse but the book finishes discussing treatment of anxiety and depression as well as schizophrenia. I believe this is the most recent edition of this book and it is dangerously close to becoming too outdated to trust for accuracy. I recommend it for its readability and ease of introduction to the subject of psychopharmacology, especially in the early chapters, but I would advise seeking a more recent publication on the topic or waiting until an updated version of this book is released.

[Linda]

Considering this is an undergraduate level text, this is a detailed and very thorough discussion of the role drugs play in behavior. The whole book was required reading for a 3-credit course, which was a lot. Unfortunately both the organization of chapters and the writing style varied significantly between chapters which made it difficult to study in an organized way. I ended up going back to the initial few chapters and designing an outline that I could use as a template to organize the information in the rest of the book. I would have also appreciated more support materials such as a study guide or an interactive website like accompanies many equivalent textbooks.
Overall this is a good textbook and suited its purpose.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't go a day without taking this one off the shelf...

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this last year in my psychopharmacology class and it seemed to work very well. Informative but not overly jargon filled for reading.

[Rhianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently reading for a graduate level supplemental text on the neurobiology of drug addiction