Registry

Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2012 - 2013
Please note that this information is subject to change.

Module Title	Psychopharmaceuticals & Psychotherapy
Module Code	NS608
School	School of Nursing and Human Sciences
Online Module Resources
Module Co-ordinator	Semester 1: Donal O'Mathuna Semester 2: Donal O'Mathuna Autumn: Donal O'Mathuna
Module Teacher	Donal O'Mathuna
NFQ level	9	Credit Rating	5
Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

Description

This module introduces students to psychopharmacology and controversies associated with the use of pharmaceuticals in psychotherapy. The main pharmaceuticals used will be described, along with their mechanisms of action and common side effects. The principles of evidence-based practice will be described so that students understand how clinical research leads to the introduction of psychopharmaceuticals. The impact of these substances on psychotherapy will be discussed, looking at practice from the perspective of service users and providers. Questions of medicalisation and overuse of psychopharmaceuticals will be examined, as well as ethical dilemmas created by psychopharmaceuticals.

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify the principal psychopharmaceuticals prescribed and their main uses and adverse effects.
2. Discuss the methods of demonstrating efficacy and reviewing research evidence for pharmaceuticals.
3. Examine the impact of psychopharmacology on the practice of psychotherapy.
4. Discuss the most significant philosophical and ethical debates about psychopharmacology and psychotherapy.
5. Reflect on notions of medicalisation in society.
6. Explore the narratives of people using psychopharmacology.

Workload	Full-time hours per semester
*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Lecture	30	Attend lectures and engage in group discussions.
Independent learning time	95	Independent reading and writing
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Principles of psychopathology.
Overview of the biological underpinnings of psychopharmaceuticals and their mechanisms of action..

Clinical research.
Description of the main types of clinical trials used to evaluate the efficacy and safety of psychopharmaceuticals..

Medication and identity.
How psychopharmaceuticals interact with behaviour and raise questions of identity..

Psychopharmacology and psychotherapy.
Discussion of the impact of psychopharmacology on the practice of psychotherapy..

Psychosocial interventions.
Overview of the main approaches and how they interact with medications..

Medicalisation.
Evaluation of the debate over the growing reach of pharmaceuticals and the psychopathologies for which they are used..

Bioethics.
Overview of the main theories and principles and their application in the use of psychopharmaceuticals, in particular with informed consent..

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	100%	Examination Weight	0%

Course Work Breakdown
Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Essay	Controversies in psychopharmacology	30%	Week 9
Essay	Controversies in psychopharmacology	30%	Week 12
Essay	Reflective essay	40%	Other

Reassessment Requirement
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; 1 = A resit is available for all components of the module 2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module 3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
This module is category 1

Indicative Reading List

Marcia Angell: 2004, The truth about the drug companies, Random House, New York, 0375508465
Peter Conrad: 2007, The medicalization of society, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 978-0801885853
David A. Karp: 2007, Is it me or my meds?, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 978-0674025516
Peter D. Kramer: 1997, Listening to Prozac, Penguin Books, New York, 978-0140266719
Peter D. Kramer: 2006, Against depression, Penguin Books, New York, 978-0143036968
Phoebe S. Prosky and David V. Keith, editors: 2003, Family therapy as an alternative to medication, Brunner-Routledge, New York, 978-0415933988
Thomas Szasz: 2007, The medicalization of everyday life, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, N.Y., 978-0815608677
Irving Kirsch Ph.D.: 2011, The Emperor''s New Drugs, Basic Books, 978-0465022007
edited by Ian M. Anderson, Ian C. Reid: 2006, Fundamentals of clinical psychopharmacology, Informa Healthcare, Abingdon, Oxon, 978-0415395656
Stephen Bazire: 2004, Drugs used in the treatment of mental health disorders: frequently asked questions, 3, APS Publishing, 9781903877166
Howard Brody: 2007, Hooked, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, 0742552187
Daniel Carlat: 2010, Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry - A Doctor''s Revelations about a Profession in Crisis, Free Press, 978-1416590798
Iain K. Crombie: 1996, The pocket guide to critical appraisal, BMJ, London, 978-0727910998
Hugh Mercer Curtler: 2004, Ethical argument, Oxford University Press, New York, 0195173163
Carl Elliott, Peter D. Kramer (Foreword): 2003, Better Than Well, W.W. Norton & Co., 978-0393325652
Michel Foucault; translated from the French by Richard Howard: 1965, Madness and civilization, Vintage Books 1988, New York, 978-0679721109
Michael J. Gitlin: 2007, Psychotherapist''s Guide to Psychopharmacology, Free Press, 978-1416576952
Brain E. Leonard: 2003, Fundamentals of psychopharmacology, 3, Wiley, 978-0471521785
Maggie Mahar: 2006, Money-driven medicine, Collins, New York, 978-0060765330
A. P. Martinich: 2005, Philosophical Writing, 3, Blackwell, 1405131675
Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels: 2005, Selling sickness, Nation Books, New York, NY, 978-1560258568
Femi Oyebode: 2008, Sims'' symptoms in the mind, 4, Saunders Elsevier, Edinburgh, 978-0702028854
Joanna Moncrieff (Editor), Mark Rapley (Editor), Jacqui Dillon (Editor): 2011, De-Medicalizing Misery, Palgrave Macmillan, 978-0230307919
Stephen M. Stahl: 2008, Stahl''s Essential Psychopharmacology Online, 3, Cambridge University Press, 978-0521746090
Thomas S. Szasz: 1974, The Myth of Mental Illness, Harper & Row, 978-0061771224
Thomas Szasz: 1988, The myth of psychotherapy, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, N.Y., 978-0815602231
Thomas S. Szasz; with a new preface by the author: 1997, The manufacture of madness, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, N.Y., 978-0815604617
Thomas Szasz; with a new preface by the author: 2003, Pharmacracy, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, 978-0815607632
David Taylor (Editor), Carol Paton (Editor), Shitij Kapur (Editor): 2012, The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry, 11, 978-0470979488
Lewis Vaughn: 2006, Writing philosophy, Oxford University Press, 0195179560
H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa Schwartz, Steve Woloshin,: 2012, Overdiagnosed, Beacon, 978-0807021996
Robert Whitaker: 2011, Anatomy of an Epidemic, Broadway, 978-0307452429