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13.2 Reducing Disorder Biologically: Drug and Brain Therapy
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Classify the different types of drugs used in the treatment of mental disorders and explain how they each work to
reduce disorder. - Critically evaluate direct brain intervention methods that may be used by doctors to treat patients who do not
respond to drug or other therapy.
Like other medical problems, psychological disorders may in some cases be treated
biologically. Biomedical therapies are treatments designed to reduce psychological disorder by
influencing the action of the central nervous system. These therapies primarily involve the use of
medications but also include direct methods of brain intervention, including electroconvulsive
therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and psychosurgery.
Drug Therapies
Psychologists understand that an appropriate balance of neurotransmitters in the brain is
necessary for mental health. If there is a proper balance of chemicals, then the person’s mental
health will be acceptable, but psychological disorder will result if there is a chemical imbalance.
The most frequently used biological treatments provide the patient with medication that
influences the production and reuptake of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS).
The use of these drugs is rapidly increasing, and drug therapy is now the most common approach
to treatment of most psychological disorders.