Psychotropic Medications: Antipsychotics and Mood Stabilizers - Video Lesson

Welcome back everybody to our discussion of the different classes of medication. This lesson focuses on common types of psychotropic medications, their use and administration, and precautions specific to this class of medication. Understanding the differences between psychotropic medications is important because the correct medication may relieve the symptoms of a mental disorder, while the incorrect medication may aggravate existing symptoms or lead to worsening symptoms. A psychotropic medication can be defined as any drug that affects behavior, mood, thoughts, or perception. Psychotropics influence the levels of different neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers in the brain, such as serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and gamma aminobutyric acid or GABA. There are five main classes of psychotropic drugs, antidepressant,