Full Course Description

Psychopharmacology Intensive Online Course: Everything the Non-Prescriber Needs to Know

Program Information

Target Audience

Counselors, Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Psychotherapists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Case Managers, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors, Pharmacists, School Psychologists, Others in caring professions

Objectives

Analyze the historical antecedents of psychopharmacological products and their relation to today’s psychotropic medications.
Identify the mechanism of action of today’s psychotropic medications and how it relates to your clients.
Breakdown the process of medication selection and receptor activation/blocking for specific disorders.
Communicate the side effects including nutritional, cognitive, sexual, and behavioral associated with psychotropic medications.
Communicate options for clients including medications and/or psychotherapy.
Explain how medications are chosen for mood disorders and specific patient characteristics.
Compile medication treatment options for your clients with ADHD.
Determine medication management strategies for clients with sleep disorders.
Identify medications effective for your clients with eating disorders.
Determine how to effectively incorporate medication assisted treatments into an overall care plan for substance use disorders.
Determine the unique medication considerations for geriatric clients.
Discriminate between acute and chronic pain to recommend best methods of treatment.
Analyze future trends, including preventing side effects vs. managing side effects.
Establish ethical issues specifically relating to the child and adolescent population as it relates to clinical psychopharmacology.
Apply traditional standards (autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, confidentiality, veracity) of ethical behavior to issues peculiar to the practice of clinical psychopharmacology.
Explore specific ethical issues and their resolve to the everyday practice of clinical psychopharmacology.
Explain the role of prescriber as both patient advocate and protector.
Evaluate research and its impact on future prescribing and patient care.

Outline

Module One
- Psychopharmacology
  - Historical Antecedents of Modern Psychopharmacology
  - Diagnostic Issues
  - Clarification of Terms
  - Drug Metabolism Concepts: Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics
  - Drug Mechanism of Action
  - Placebo & Nocebo
  - Pharmacotherapy Vs. Psychotherapy
- Understanding Receptors
  - Specific Receptors & Their Action
  - Prescribe Based on Receptor Action
- Masking: Psychological Problems Disguising
- Medical Disorders
  - Differential Disorders & Diagnostic Workup
  - Top 10 Drug Medical Emergencies
- Depressive Disorders
  - The Terminal Button & Neuronal Health
  - Biogenic Amine, Cortisol, Down-Regulation, & Neurotropic
  - Hypotheses
  - Neurochemistry of Depression
  - Types of Anti-Depressants
  - Preventing Side Effects
  - Treatment Resistant Depression and Drug Combinations
  - Tardive Dysphoria: Real or Imagined?
- The Role of Nutrition & Mental Health
  - Monoaminergic Rich Foods
  - Achetylcholinergic Rich Foods

Module Two
- Review of Anti-Depressants
- Create the Perfect Anti-Depressant
- Anxiety Disorders & Obsessive Compulsive Disorders & Trauma Related Disorders
  - Gad, Panic Disorders, Phobias
  - OCD
  - PTSD
  - Physiological Interventions
  - Anti-Anxiety Medications
  - Anti-Depressants
  - Non-Pharmacologic Options
  - Benzodiazepines: Risks and Benefits
  - Preventing Side Effects
- Psychotic Disorders/Schizophrenia
  - Neurochemistry of Psychosis and Schizophrenia
  - Antipsychotic Medications:
  - First Generation (Typical)
  - Second Generation (Atypical)
  - Managing Side Effects
  - Extrapyramidal Symptoms and TD
  - Metabolic Problems
  - Recognizing Hyperprolactinemia - And Why You Need to Know
  - Use of Atypical Antipsychotics for Multiple Disorders
  - Pregnancy and Psychotic Disorders
- Bipolar Disorders
  - Neurochemistry
  - The Bipolar Spectrum
  - Mood Stabilizers
  - Lithium
  - Anti-Convulsants & Neuromodulators
  - Effective Strategies for Improving Outcomes for Clients

Module Three
- Attentional Disorders
  - Differential Diagnosis
  - Neurochemistry of ADHD
  - Treatment Controversies
  - Substance Abuse and ADHD
  - Stimulant Medications
  - Non-Stimulant Options
  - Preventing Side Effects
- Substance Abuse Disorders
  - Neurochemistry of Addiction
  - Negative Reinforcement & Creation of Habits
  - Alcohol
  - Caffeine
  - Nicotine
  - Cannabis
  - Opiates
  - PCP & Ketamine
  - MDMA (Ecstasy)
  - Energy Vs. Chill Drinks
  - Over-The-Counter & Herbal
  - Psychopharmacology
  - Addiction Treatments
  - Behavioral Addictions
- Treating Client Pain
- - Acute Vs. Chronic Pain
  - Advances in Psychopharmacology
  - Alternatives to Psychopharmacology
  - Pain Vs. Depression: Which Comes First?
  - Co-Morbid Pain
  - Alternatives
- Special Population
  - Specialized Guidelines For Geriatric Patients
  - Dementia Treatment
  - Pregnancy Guidelines
  - Slow Vs. Rapid Metabolizers (Genetic Polymorphisms)
- Ethics & Psychopharmacology
  - High-Risk Pharmacology & Psychopharmacology
  - Off-Label Use of Medications
  - Prescribing for Children
  - Elective Psychopharmacology
  - Marketing of Mental Illness
  - Polypharmacy
  - Informed Vs. Uninformed Consent
  - Patient & Third Party Pressures
  - Professional Boundaries
  - Ethics Associated with Medical
  - Errors
  - Role of Placebo