Psychopharmacology is one of the highest-yield domains in Paper A: the facts are concrete, examinable, and directly clinically useful. These themes recur across sittings, all referenced to the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines.
Lithium
Know the therapeutic ranges (around 0.8-1.0 mmol/L for acute mania, lower for maintenance), the 12-hour sampling convention, and the adverse-effect profile, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, hypothyroidism, and the teratogenic risk (Ebstein's anomaly). Understand what precipitates toxicity, especially dehydration and hyponatraemia.
Clozapine
Agranulocytosis and mandatory neutrophil monitoring, early myocarditis, constipation and hypersalivation, and the indication (treatment-resistant schizophrenia after two adequate antipsychotic trials) are all frequently tested.
Extrapyramidal effects and syndromes
Distinguish acute dystonia (treat with an anticholinergic), akathisia, parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia, and be able to separate neuroleptic malignant syndrome from serotonin syndrome on their clinical features.
Antidepressants
Know SSRI adverse effects (hyponatraemia/SIADH, GI bleeding), discontinuation symptoms (worst with paroxetine and venlafaxine, least with fluoxetine), and the MAOI-tyramine interaction.
Practise these directly in the psychopharmacology question set.