Drugs—A Tool for Research in Psychiatry

Abstract

The history of medicine reveals man's search for drugs to ease his diseases and possibly cure them. Advances have been made pharmacologically in the treatment and prevention of many infectious diseases. While psychiatry has benefited from these discoveries in the treatment of certain infections of the central nervous system, in general, the treatment of psychiatric diseases remains largely empirical. The psychopharmacologic treatment of psychiatric diseases continues to be based on the presenting symptom-complex of the patient; this is because the aetiology is still unknown, for in reality our explanations do not explain. The phrenotropic drugs currently used in psychiatry are important for their pharmacodynamic effect since they change the cellular environment in which mental processes are maintained. Pharmacodynamic research in psychiatry has revealed possible neuroanatomical sites and many biochemical effects of these drugs. The specific correlation of these findings with clinical effects is lacking. When this is accomplished, it is probable that better drugs will be developed.