Psychopharmacology

Psychopharmacology is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, behavior, judgment, evaluation and memory. It is distinguished from neuropsychopharmacology by its emphasis on the correlation between consciousness and behavior and changes in the functioning of nervous-system cells, examining substances with a range of psychoactive properties and how they interact chemically with the brain; the term psychopharmacology was likely coined by David Macht in 1920. Psychoactive drugs interact with receptors in the nervous system to induce physiological or psychological changes, with the specific drug-receptor interaction called the drug action and the resulting widespread change called the drug effect, and such drugs may originate from natural sources such as plants or from artificial chemical synthesis.