Chlorpromazine: The First Wonder Drug

Abstract

Since the 1950s, drugs have been regarded as the principle form of treatment for people with psychiatric conditions. Alongside the introduction of chlorpromazine and other so-called ‘antipsychotics’ in the 1950s, lithium was suggested as a treatment for people diagnosed with mania or manic depression, drugs that are referred to as ‘antidepressants’ started to be used and, in the 1960s, the benzodiazepines—a class of sedative drugs that includes such household names as Valium, Librium and Ativan—were developed for the treatment of anxiety. Nowadays, the central, and often the only, aspect of treatment most people with mental health problems receive is drug treatment. When one drug fails to resolve a person’s difficulties, another one is started, and then another, and then drugs are needed for the side effects of the first drugs and so on. Many people end up taking multiple substances in what is often an endless quest based on the belief that the right drug or drug combination can reverse the underlying problem.