What Is Psychopharmacology?

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Brain research advances often follow unpredictable, serendipitous paths.

The discovery of new brain drugs must be guided by scientific experience, not expediency.

Non-expert oversight of research funding could stifle unforeseen breakthroughs.

A common theme traceable back at least 2,000 years holds that neuropsychiatric illnesses are the result of an excess of substances (humors) within the body. Black bile was considered responsible for melancholia (depression); yellow bile produced a choleric explosive temperament; excess of blood led to a sanguineous confident disposition; and phlegm induced inactivity and passivity. This humeral theory was responsible for various diagnoses and treatments (like bloodletting) up until the mid-nineteenth century.

With the advent of early medications aimed at various symptoms and signs of mental illness (psychopharmacology), belief in the causative effects of substances in the body as the cause of various mental illnesses waned. Fortunately, it persisted long enough to stimulate the discovery of one of the most powerful psychotropic agents in history.

The Discovery of Lithium for Bipolar Disorder

The lithium story started in the late 1940s when an Australian psychiatrist, John Cade, formulated a hypothesis about manic depression, an illness that we now refer to as bipolar disorder, typically marked by periods of depression alternating with episodes of mania. Cade believed in the existence of a “toxin” circulating in the blood of patients suffering from the manic phase of bipolar disorder. Secondary to his belief, he hit upon the idea of injecting urine from manic patients into guinea pigs. He postulated that the toxin circulating within........

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