An investigation into the precedents of modern drug treatment in psychiatry

Abstract

This paper examines some of the factors associated with the introduction of a range of new drug treatments into psychiatry in the 1950s and 1960s. The nature of psychiatry in the United Kingdom in preceding decades is examined and a continuous emphasis on biological explanations and treatments of mental disorder is revealed. Physical treatment procedures such as insulin coma therapy and shock treatment received most attention. Older drug treatments, although widely used, excited little interest during this time. The new drug treatments by contrast received much attention and began to be regarded as having specific effects on different mental disorders. It is suggested that a combination of long standing professional concerns and commercial factors helped to account for the rapid acceptance and employment of the new drugs. In turn, these drugs helped to strengthen the hegemony of the medical approach to mental illness.