Psychopharmacology can be a terribly complex subject. Serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, acetylcholine, presynaptic receptors, postsynaptic receptors, up regulation, down regulation and an endless array of neuropathways can make your head spin and your heart sink. While all these theories are important, many of the core concepts can be distilled down to a very understandable and clinically useful set of constructs.
Psychiatric medications can be separated into 4 key groupings: Uppers, Downers, Squeezers, and Heavy Downers. Uppers include antidepressants and stimulants. Downers are sedatives and sleeping agents. Squeezers are mood stabilizers and antipsychotics, and Heavy Downers are high dose antipsychotics. Categorized in these ways, psychopharmacology can be broken down into quickly understandable concepts and clinically useful strategies.
Dr. Steven Buser is a psychiatrist with 25 years experience prescribing psychiatric medications. He further completed a 2 year clinical training program at C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. His two hour talk will include not only the nuances of psychiatric medication management , but also the uniquely Jungian aspects of it and archetypal components.