Psychoactive drugs depressants

As we have seen, low doses of caffeine (75 to 300 mg) have been shown to increase positive mood states,153 with higher doses leading to more and more positive mood states, at least up to a point.155-265 At the very high levels of consumption (greater than 500 mg) seen in heavy caffeine users,157 the drug can elevate anxiety and depress affect.34 Our more general review of the mood state literature above leaves little doubt that caffeine is a psychoactive drug. 

Ziedonis DM and Kosten TR (1991). Pharmacotherapy improves treatment outcome in depressed cocaine addicts. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 23, 417-425. 

Cannabinoids Hashish Marijuana Psychoactive drugs with mixed (stimulant and depressant] activity Smoked possible oral ingestion Initial response euphoria, excitement, increased perception later response relaxation, stupor, dreamlike state Endocrine changes (decreased testosterone in males] and changes in respiratory function similar to chronic ... 

The antidepressants have not been found to effect judgment and thinking as some psychoactive drugs may. The antidepressants will relieve the symptoms of depression and those of the other psychological problems as mentioned above. The antidepressants will make it possible for people with depression to resume a normal life, such as returning to work and school. They will help people get over their feelings of worthlessness and assist them in social functioning. 

In cases of depression and low self-esteem, the action of MDMA is thus very different from pharmacological approaches normally used in therapy. June Riedlinger gave "A Pharmacist7 s Perspective" on this matter in the July-September 1985 Journal of Psychoactive Drugs ... 

Further, it is clear that, as with any psychoactive drug, the pleasant feelings alcohol can provide depend as much on set and setting as on pharmacological action. The same amount of wine that makes someone pleasantly high at a party may make a depressed person in a lonely room even more depressed. 

OTC cough syrups Lire ot varied compositicwi. Some eontain no obviously psychoactive drugs Others contain known depressants, such as alcohol and chloroform stimulants such as phenylpropanolamine antihistamineSj and derivatives oi opiates considered to he non narco tie. Sometimes people who are desperate for drugs and who cannot get anything better consume overdoses of these preparations in efforts to get high. 

Mood drugs Psychoactive drugs m general, especially. nimiilants and depressants. 

Unlike most psychoactive drugs and certainly most depressants, GHB increases rather than suppresses dreaming, and the sleep it induces closely resembles natural sleep- It does not pose the risks of other drugs in this class, but users should be aware of the potential dangers of overdoses, especially in situations that require full alertness, such as driving-... 

A state is an altered state if it is discretely different from some baseline state we want to compare things to. Since we usually take ordinary waking consciousness as our standard of comparison, a state such as nocturnal dreaming is thus an altered state. Other well-known examples of altered states are the hypnotic state, states induced by psychoactive drugs such as alcohol, states centered on strong emotions such as rage, panic, depression, and elation, and states induced by meditative practices. ... 

ANTIMANIC AGENTS are used mainly to treat manic-depressive illness (bipolar disorder), which is characterized by periods of mood normality punctuated by episodes of mania and bouts of depression. The manic phase most often requires acute treatment, and initially ANTIPSYCHOTIC AGENTS, e.g. phenothiazines, will usually be given. Thereafter, a very different psychoactive drug, lithium, may gradually be substituted in most patients, and this can prevent or reduce... 

Clinical - Several reviews and articles on the nature and therapy of depressive disorders were published in 1968 °- as well as a useful introductory text on clinical psychiatry . Irwin 5 has proposed a rational framework for the clinical evaluation and use of psychoactive drugs. He noted that patients with depression exhibit a wide variety of behaviour and that the different forms of the disease require different classes of drugs. Mendels likewise remarked that "few terms in psychiatry are used with as many different meanings as depression". The importance of using a suitably large sample size in clinical studies of drug evaluation was stressed . The foregoing are a caveat for the interpretation of the clinical reports discussed below. 

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