Biomedical therapies such as pharmaceutical drugs and electroconvulsive therapy as treatments for various psychological disorders is controversial. There is no doubt that the use of pharmaceutical drugs to treat mental illness has been a breakthrough that brings relief to many who suffer from the various psychological disorders. However, concern exists that drugs are often over-prescribed with out full understanding of the consequences.
– Your job is to search the internet and familiarize yourself with how pharmaceutical and other biomedical treatments work. You should gather information to address the following.
1. What are some of the concerns with regard to the use of pharmaceutical treatments to treat psychoplgical disorders and mental illness? What are the benefits? (Be sure to provide specific examples and cite your sources.)
2. In terms of outcomes and efficacy, what does scientific research suggest is the difference between these kinds of treatments and traditional psychotherapy ?
3. What is your perspective on the use of biomedical therapies to treat psychological problems? When should they be used or not be used?
Be sure to substantiate your answer with references to reputable resources. Here are a few videos to get you thinking about the topic but don’t use this as your reference
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sherwin_nuland_on_electroshock_therapy.html
**** Remember that this assignment is a Webquest and should thus summarize information you collect from reviewing various internet sites. It should not just be a summary of the videos.***
Other criteria
– incorporate findings from at least two internet sites.
– typed as a Microsoft word document, saved in Rich – – Text Format, and submitted via the link provided in the Webquest module.
– contain appropriate “in-text citations” and a reference section indicating where you got your information
– 500 words minimum
– double-spaced
– 12 point font
