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The Significance of the Cerebral Dopamine Metabolism in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Psychotic Disorders

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The Impact of Biology on Modern Psychiatry

Abstract

For many years, well into the Sixties, research into the biological determinants of schizophrenic psychoses has suffered from a dearth of more or less well-founded and testable working hypotheses. Without much system, efforts were made to find abnormal metabolites in a wide variety of body fluids. Strange people, strange substances: not a very powerful research strategy. It has recently dawned, however, that neuroleptics could serve as the pacemaker of biological psychosis research (Matthysse 1973; Snyder, 1974; van Praag 1975), much as the antidepressants are the pacemaker of biological depression research (Van Praag 1976a). I shall briefly discuss the arguments which have led to this conclusion.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Psychiatry, State University Gröningen, The Netherlands

    H. M. van Praag

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  1. H. M. van Praag
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Elliot S. Gershon M.D.

  2. Jerusalem Mental Health Center Ezrath Nashim, Jerusalem, Israel

    Robert H. Belmaker M. D.  & Milton Rosenbaum M. D.  & 

  3. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Seymour S. Kety M. D.

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© 1977 Plenum Press, New York

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van Praag, H.M. (1977). The Significance of the Cerebral Dopamine Metabolism in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Psychotic Disorders. In: Gershon, E.S., Belmaker, R.H., Kety, S.S., Rosenbaum, M. (eds) The Impact of Biology on Modern Psychiatry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0778-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0778-5_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-0780-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-0778-5

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