DRUG THAT ACT ON THE BRAIN

 Psychopharmaceuticals are one of the most influential tools in psychology and psychiatry, both in their intervention aspect and in research.

However, the fact that its marketing and popularity have spread to a large part of the planet does not prevent there from being some confusion about what a psychotropic drug really is.

What exactly are psychotropic drugs?

Psychotropic drugs are chemical substances that influence mental processes by acting on the nervous system.

However, it must be taken into account that there are many substances that directly or indirectly affect the networks of neurons in our body, and that is why the concept of psychopharmaceutical has a lot to do with the type of effects that the substance has, its intensity and the legal regulations that determine how and when it should be consumed.

Types of psychotropic drugs

Within the wide variety of psychoactive drugs that have been developed, there is also a very wide range of functions. And it is that if the nervous system is capable of carrying out processes of all kinds, such as allowing decision-making or the regulation of emotional states, the substances that influence these groups of neurons can also produce very varied effects depending on the type of psychoactive drug of which it is

Although each class of substance has very specific effects, it is possible to establish a classification of the types of psychoactive drugs. These are the following:

1. Anxiolytics and sedatives

Anxiolytics are a class of psychoactive drugs that reduce the signs of anxiety and the agitation that is associated with it without actually producing sleepiness. Among the most important anxiolytics we find benzodiazepines.

Sedatives, on the other hand, do decrease the level of consciousness. Both types of psychiatric drugs can be used as tranquilizers.

2. Mood stabilizers

This class of psychoactive drugs is used especially in mood disorders and the like, with bipolar disorder being the most typical.

3. Antipsychotics

Antipsychotics, also called neuroleptics, are a type of psychotropic drugs whose effects are usually related to mitigating the effects of psychosis and schizophrenia.

4. Antidepressants

Antidepressants are psychotropic drugs used especially in the treatment of major depressive disorders, and disorders related to difficulty in controlling certain impulses.

Among the types of antidepressants we find some such as MAOIs, SSRIs, tricyclic antidepressants.How do psychopharmaceuticals work?

In general, the basic function of psychotropic drugs is to make certain neurons behave in a different way than they were acting. They do this by directly or indirectly influencing the way in which these nerve cells reuptake certain types of substances called neurotransmitters.

Thus, for example, a psychoactive drug can make a certain class of neurons stop capturing such a high amount of dopamine, which generates a chain reaction that makes the symptoms of a disorder improve.

Psychoactive drugs and their side effects

Psychoactive drugs are, basically, a type of medication whose target is the Central Nervous System. However, the fact that their "ideal" targets are very specific areas of the brain does not mean that these substances only have effects there.

Like all medicines, psychotropic drugs are not intelligent organisms, without sets of molecules that "fit" in some parts of the body and not in others. That means that they act on where they are supposed to act, but also on many other parts of the body. In other words, psychotropic drugs have side effects, many of which can be very negative.

Psychopharmaceuticals in the fight against mental illness

Traditionally, psychotropic drugs have been medicine's response to cases of mental illness. This means in part that its use has not been intended to apply to healthy people, and it also means that its use has been a way to combat symptoms of disorders that were understood to have an individual cause.

However, there is currently a very intense debate about the way in which we should understand mental disorders and, therefore, the way in which they should be treated by health specialists. This debate fully affects the use of psychotropic drugs, which in some cases can go from being the core of the treatment to becoming one more complement in a type of approach to the problem that serves to intervene more in the context in which the person lives. person and not so much in the person as something isolated.