XIX.

"Amphetamines increase the amount of arousal. In particular, they increase the amount of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that's responsible for just general arousal. And so, amphetamines include drugs like "speed" and "coke." There are — Prozac works on serotonin. When we discuss clinical psychology and depression we'll learn the extent to which neurotransmitter disorders are implicated in certain disorders like depression. And one problem is that – for depression – is that there's too little of a neurotransmitter known as serotonin. Prozac makes serotonin more prevalent and so in some extent might help alleviate depression. Parkinson's disease is a disease involving destruction of motor control and loss of motor control, difficulty moving. And one factor in Parkinson's is too little of a neurotransmitter known as dopamine. The drug L-DOPA increases the supply of dopamine and so there is something to alleviate, at least temporarily, the symptoms of Parkinson's."

© Paul Bloom
Yale Lectures on Introduction to Psychology, 2007