Psychopharmacology and the Use of Psychotropic Drugs
             As a student diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD) myself, the field of biological psychology, specifically psychopharmacology, is one in which I express great interest. Biological psychology attempts to answer questions we have about our psychological processes by investigating the biological bases of behavior. With recent advances in modern science and medicine, we have learned a great deal more about our neuroanatomy, physiology, and the chemical pathways of our brain, and this has led to an explosion in the use of psychotropic drugs to treat many mental disorders. It seems recently that for many mental conditions, especially depression and attention deficit disorder, more emphasis has been put on drug therapy as the solution and less has been put on behavioral, cognitive, and psychodynamic therapies. The "pill-popping" culture of our society and of the growing pharmaceutical industry has made these antidepressants and amphetamines easier and easier to obtain, !
             and there are many questions being raised over the issue of their abuse and overprescription.
             The roots of pharmacology date back to many centuries, and began as a process of trial and error as ancient cultures and tribes discovered poisons, hallucinogens, and remedies that came from different plants and animals. As time has progressed, so has our knowledge of the human brain and body, and with the discovery of chemical transmission through synapses in the brain at the beginning of the 20th century, a new world of possibilities was opened. By beginning to understand the dynamics of brain chemistry and its link to behavior, we have learned about the chemical bases of mental disorders and how to apply the use of certain drugs to remedy or suppress them. Recently, in some cases, drug therapy as the cure to the problem has taken precedence and preference over behavioral, cognitive, and psychoana...