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Psychology BS W/ Minor in Chem

mdmantpa

mdmantpa

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I know that there have been threads like "I love drugs, what kind of career should I choose to work with them, etc." But I am majoring in Psychology and a college sophmore atm. I have had a love affair with drugs for the last 8 years and I am increasingly finding psychedelic therapy and medicine interesting.

I am thinking about adding a Chemistry minor to better understand the psychoactive compound part of it all. I guess my question is does anybody have any ideas or thoughts on certain classes or electives that would be good to take for a Psych major who is very interested in drugs and their interactions with people/society?

So far I have taken these drug related courses: Drugs & Nutrition (+Lab), and Drugs, Alcohol, and Crime

Am thinking about taking these courses that I think could relate: Perception, Neuropsychology, Organic Chemistry I(+Lab), O Chem II(+Lab), Advanced O Chem, O Chem III, General Mycology, and Ethnobotany.

Any suggestions on additional courses or thoughts about the ones listed above? Any info would be appreciated if anyone has taken these courses before.

It may be a long shot, but I would love to get into doing research with MAPS or related psychedelic studies. I really think that the use of drugs legally and medically could drastically improve the world we currently live in, and have given a lot of thought to dedicating my life to that line of work....not just to get into it because I want to use drugs.

Thanks BL
 
beagleboy said:
what in the fuck is interesting about psychology?
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WTF is so interesting about beagles, asshole? 8)

To the OP, I recommend you read a book by Carlos Castaneda called The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. It's about a cultural anthropologist who goes to Mexico in the 60s and trains to become a shaman by way of using psychadelic drugs like peyote and mescaline.

It may be up your alley, then again, it may not. Either way it is a very interesting and fascinating book %)
 
Hey thanks JA, I appreciate the heads up, I'll give it a read.

and beagleboy why dont you just do BL a favor and stop trolling with fucking retarded posts in every forum. thanks
 
What kind of research do you want to do? Do you want to discover or design drugs for therapeutic use, do you want to do research on already existing drugs, or do you want to do something completely different?
 
Well to get into the field I would be most interested in current drugs, mostly therapy and studies involving MDMA, MDA, LSD, Psilocybin, and DMT. It may be unrealistic but in my dreams I would really like to do research with these chemicals that would
A) Lead to a more beneficial relationship between Tryptamines/Phenethylamines and humans.
and
B) Lead towards the medicalization and/or legalizations of these substances.
 
beagleboy said:
what in the fuck is interesting about psychology?
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Everything. Human beings is what makes the world we live in what it is.
I have a BA in psychology and sociology.

I'm lost as to where to find a job as well but I gotta start lookin.
 
I have a BA in psychology and sociology.
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Oh......ok sweetie. I'll bet your real pleasent to deal with too.

Well to get into the field I would be most interested in current drugs, mostly therapy and studies involving MDMA, MDA, LSD, Psilocybin, and DMT. It may be unrealistic but in my dreams I would really like to do research with these chemicals that would
A) Lead to a more beneficial relationship between Tryptamines/Phenethylamines and humans.
and
B) Lead towards the medicalization and/or legalizations of these substances.
Click to expand...
Oh yea.....I see that happening. I mean YOU could be that guy.
Call me when this is happening. I'll take mountains of drugs under your professional supervision.
Why not just take a trip to europe after graduating?
 
I think people have this romantic notion about Chemistry, but I'd be highly surprised if your school allowed you to take O. Chem without first taking a general 100 level Chemistry course.

Knowing functional groups, nomenclature, cis/trans and stereoisomerism isn't going to do you much good if you don't have a grasp on MO, VSEPR, melting points, densities, thermo, gases, stoich, pH, and the various experimental procedures.
 
Love Psych! I got my BA and MA in Psychology. We had a course called Drugs & Human Behavior that was great.

I'd recommend looking into the courses offered by the Nursing program at your school (assuming there is one) because they sometimes offer neuropsych and psychopharmacology courses that are somewhat different from those in the Psych dept. In my experience the courses in nursing look more at the physical effects than the psychological ones. I thought it was interesting to look at the information from a different perspective.

Good luck!
 
you're prolly going to need a graduate degree to do anything interesting. my school has 2 that are intimately tied to neuroscience/pharmacology - medical neurobiology, and the psychobiology of addictions.

i dont know how other schools do psyche options, but a minor in chem is required for the 'behavioral neuroscience' option here.

i suggest you talk to your counsellor about what you want to do. they could already have a program for it, beyond just regular psychology.
 
Hey I appreciate the help and the advice...and to Cyc I have completed Gen Chem 1 and 2, so I figured O chem would be next. I do realize that a BA would not be able to get me far in this day and age, and am hoping to get a Doctorate with my thesis and research based in something along the lines of the interaction between humans and psychoactive compounds, but who knows. I do understand that a lot of this might be me being a dreamer, but I also feel that you should follow your dreams or your gut, even when people might think you are foolish or will fail....lol I mean shit imagine if the Wright brothers or Ben Franklin just gave up because people said it jsut wasnt possible...idk thats jsut my feelings on the whole bit
 
I'd recommend taking a look at this page: http://www.maps.org/students.html

Scroll down and expand the sections "How Does One Go About Performing Research with Psychedelics?" and "So You Want to be a Psychedelic Researcher?"

I thought about going a similar route as you, and this is what my research has left me with.
- Psychiatry is would make the most use of chemistry and psychology. You would be able to handle therapy, and the administering of drugs - in a research and clinical setting. Dr. Rick Strassman is a perfect example of this.
- Going into psychology grad school gives you two options:
A) Counseling/Therapy - without the ability to give prescriptions. You could study the effectiveness of psychedelics in therapy. A psychiatrist would be needed if you wanted to administer any drugs.
B) Experimental Psychology is more involved with the "nitty gritty" of the relationship between psychedelics and the mind (although not the chemical side - more of behavioral, mental processes, etc). Although you will be well prepared to set up a sound study to research just about anything.

Nothing is set in stone, and there is no really right or wrong way to go about studying psychedelics ( there are exceptions of course - med school requires bio and chem, which is required to be a psychiatrist). It's a very new area of study, and almost every field can contribute in some way(like the link above explains) Like you said, if you really want to do something - you will find a way.

Hope this information helps!
 
mdmantpa, we both are on similar paths it sounds. im also a sophmore, studying psychology with an intense passion for drugs and pharmacokinetics haha. like you mentioned, learning about DMT,lsd and their subjective effects is always entertaining. dosenation.com has some good shit
 
i went in the direction of evolutionary biopsychology... but then changed to school guidance counseling so....

to each his own
 
I would highly recommend talking to an advisor about it, and if you can, talking to some professors that work in related fields about how they got where they are and what they would recommend. Every school does things differently, and many have some very specific courses or programs that might suit you perfectly. I just got my BS in biochemistry and was planning on doing a graduate program in "pharmaceutical sciences" at UW-Madison until I got sick - it's a multifaceted program including drug construction, drug delivery, and every other aspect of medical chemistry, and you can choose from 3 specialties within the program.
 
psychomimetic said:
I'd recomend taking pharmacology.
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This, or more specifically psychopharmacology. Basically the study of drugs on the brain and behaviour.

However, without the psychiatry element, psychopharmacologists are typically involved in pre-clinical research and as such have little to do with patients. However, if you want to get down to the nitty gritty of how drugs work and produce behavioural effects it could be worth looking into...

Its what I do and I love it.
 
@ Jerry Atrick : My Mom recommends that book to everybody! She's recently become quite spiritual and or enlightened, I suppose. It's a great text and yeah, I recommend it, too !

Chemistry is a great choice for what you're interested in. Talk to a professor in the science department and tell him/her that you're interested in drug research (...that's actually quite normal and you won't be looked down upon or at suspiciously or anything if you word it right). Ask what they suggest you take. I think you've already got a great plan. I can't really suggest others as every University kind of has their own courses. Some have really odd and unusual ones (in an awesome way). Look at online courses, too. *ask around the department/s, bottom line.
 
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