Psychopharmacology

Mental health professionals refer to psychopharmacology as the scientific study of how medications affect a person's mood, sensations, thinking, and behaviour. A distinction is made between it and neuropsychopharmacology, which highlights the relationship between drugs' effects on the functioning of cells in the nervous system, as well as changes in consciousness and behaviour, as opposed to neuropsychopharmacology.

The area of psychopharmacology investigates a diverse spectrum of chemicals with a variety of psychoactive effects, with a particular emphasis on the chemical interactions between the substances and the brain. David Macht is said to have created the word "psychopharmacology" around 1920, according to historical records.

Psychoactive medications work by interfering with specific target sites or receptors in the nervous system, causing extensive alterations in physiological or psychological processes. The precise interaction between medications and their receptors is referred to as "drug action," while the broad alterations in physiological or psychological function are referred to as "drug impact." Drug action is defined as the unique interaction between drugs and their receptors. These medications may be derived from natural sources such as plants and animals, or they may be derived from artificial sources such as chemical synthesis performed in the laboratory.