About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about some key difficulties with considering the effects of drugs on the brain in a holistic way, focusing in particular on: (i) the omnipresent nature of ingested drugs making it difficult to isolate a precise effect on the brain; (ii) differentiating instances where the drug has a direct effect on the body and where the body’s reaction to that drug is what is manifested as the ‘drug’s effect’; (iii) a side effect of antidepressants being digestive disruption, due to their action on the serotonin system and most of that serotonin system being present in the gut; (iv) recreational drugs having a universal effect on the dopaminergic ‘reward’ pathway; (v) the complicated action of alcohol on the nervous system, by activating the supressing GABA receptors, which then suppress the receptors responsible for supressing the reward pathway, resulting in the reward pathway being more greatly activated; (vi) difficulties isolating the effects of drugs due to interactions with other drugs, genetic factors and/or hormones.

About the lecturer

Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, author and honorary research associate in the Centre for Medical Education at Cardiff University. Dr Burnett’s research interests are in neuroscience, science communication and psychology. Some of Dr Burnett’s recent books include Psycho-Logical (2019) and Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up The Wall And What To Do About It (2019).