About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about drug treatments for mental illness, focusing in particular on: (i) the function of a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor being to limit the re-uptake of serotonin in the synapse, increase the opportunity for it to be absorbed; (ii) the opposing function of antipsychotic drugs, to reduce the prevalence of a particular neurotransmitter, with the side-effect of sometimes causing the development of Parkinsonian symptoms; (iii) the rule of three in antipsychotic drug treatment being that one third of recipients report greatly lessened symptoms, one third report minorly lessened symptoms, and one third report no change; (iv) the limited effectiveness of antidepressants, reported to be less than the placebo effect; (v) key benefits of pharmacological treatments being that the positive benefits can be realised after only a few weeks and they can be engaged with quickly; (vi) some key drawbacks being their cost and the tendency for individuals to need to continue taking the drug in order to maintain the benefits seen; (vii) the viewpoint of drug treatments being for mental health originating with antibacterial treatments for syphilis.

About the lecturer

Professor Nick Maguire is associate professor in clinical psychology in the Psychology Department at the University of Southampton. Professor Maguire’s research interests are primarily in the mental health issues implicated in homelessness, including substance abuse and personality disorders. Some of Professor Maguire’s recent publications include 'Developing Graduate Employability for a Challenging Labour Market: the validation of the Graduate Capital Scale' (2021) and 'Individualised placement and support programme for people unemployed because of chronic pain: a feasibility study and the InSTEP pilot RCT' (2021).