In Pharmacy of the Mind, the author of The Curious
History of Medicines in Psychiatry revisits the discoveries of the first
modern antipsychotics, antidepressants and tranquilizers in the period
following World War II, painting them on a much wider canvas. Included are the
relation of these discoveries in psychiatry to developments in other fields of
medicine, how they were made possible by advances in science in the previous
decades, and how they were profoundly affected by the wartime years. This
history is illuminated by a series of 19 biographical chapters describing the
lives of the discoverers, interposed with sections providing continuity and
expressing how these breakthroughs came together to give birth to the modern
fields of psychopharmacology and neuroscience.
Among the background topics are how synthetic organic chemistry grew from its
roots in the 19th century fabric dye industry and laid the groundwork for
making these new drugs. In a parallel pathway from the same era came the visualizing
of neurons and the recognition that they comprise the basic units of the
nervous system, primarily communicating by chemical transmission which in turn
is sensitive to drugs. As the creation of new psychiatric medications is then
presented, it is noted that their history is intertwined with the development
of drugs for infectious disease. For instance, chlorpromazine, which
revolutionized the treatment of psychoses, was originally developed as an unsuccessful
antimalarial. Once the new compounds
were actualized, further challenges awaited the discoverers as they introduced
medical treatments into a profession immersed in Freudian thought. Throughout
this history in the 20th century is the background of the World
Wars, which influenced the development of psychoanalytic concepts, physical
treatments in psychiatry, and psychopharmacology.
As many of these discoveries came about seemingly by accident, often to people
looking for something else, Pharmacy of the Mind concludes with the
history of serendipity in the creation of drugs, and what this may mean for
research today. In summary, Dr. Mendelson makes use of forty years studying
medicines in presenting the ‘golden age of psychopharmacology’ in the context
of the world in which it took place, the earlier scientific advances which made
it possible, and the experiences and personalities of the innovators
Pharmacy of the Mind is available as an eBook and paperback at:
