treatment history
Drugs

---

Drugs have been used to treat mental illness since at least medieval times, when laxatives were given to release the toxins which were believed to be trapped inside.

The end of the 19th century saw the first real developments in drug treatment for mental illness. Various sedatives were created including hyoscyamine from the plant henbane. Chloral hydrate (also known as “knockout drops”) became the first mass-produced sedative in the early 20th century.Such drugs only relieved the symptoms of illness, without curing it. In 1897 bromide salts were discovered to be an apparent cure for acute mania, but were later discarded as being too dangerous. Barbiturates were found to be safer but more expensive, and were widely used in private clinics.

Developments in neurology in the 1920s led to the identification of the first neurotransmitters – the chemicals that control the working of the brain. Research begun in the 1950s suggested that certain mental conditions were the result of an imbalance in these chemicals, and depression, psychosis and dementia were each linked to a specific neurotransmitter. Only in the 1980s was it realised that this was an over-simplification, but medical knowledge of drug therapy continues to advance.

The use of drugs, instead of physical treatments like ECT, was an important factor in the move to community care in the 1970s. In Dundee, drug clinics were set up, allowing out-patients to remain in the community.

The Royal Dundee Liff Hospital was at the forefront in its early use of Lithium to treat manic depression, and a dedicated clinic was set up at Ninewells in the early 1980s.

---