Question

**new answer needed****

Applying Principles of the Nervous System to Pharmaceutical Research

Imagine you are a student studying for your pharmacy technician certification exam. Your friend is quizzing you over drugs that affect the nervous system.

As a pharmacy technician you may be asked by a customer how a drug works or why they are taking a particular medication. They may be taking many different medications and can’t remember why they take a certain one.

Unit 4 DQ Question: Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in the control of mood. Based on this description, predict what types of health conditions Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) could be used to treat.

Answer 1

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly prescribed antidepressants.

SSRIs treat depression by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is one of the chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) that carry signals between brain nerve cells (neurons). SSRIs block the reabsorption of serotonin into neurons. This makes more serotonin available to improve transmission of messages between neurons. SSRIs are called selective because they mainly affect serotonin, not other neurotransmitters. SSRIs may also be used to treat conditions other than depression, such as anxiety disorders.

SSRIs are usually the first choice medication for depression because they generally have fewer side effects than most other types of antidepressant.

As well as depression, SSRIs can be used to treat a number of other mental health conditions, including: generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, severe phobias, such as agoraphobia and social phobia, bulimia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

SSRIs can sometimes be used to treat other conditions, such as premature ejaculation, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).They may also be prescribed to treat pain.