Cheerfulness in the history of psychiatry.

In 1762, Louis-Antoine Marquis de Caraccioli (1719-1803), a prolific writer of the eighteenth century, dedicated a book to a psychological theme that medicine has forgotten: 'gaité' in French, which we will translate as 'cheerfulness'. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, this work inspired two doctoral theses in medicine, one defended in Montpellier, the other in Paris. In their texts, Louis Monferran (1785-?) and Vincent Rémi Giganon (1794-1857) explored the therapeutic benefits of the medical prescription of cheerfulness. In addition to lifestyle recommendations, they focused on the psychotropic substances available to them: alcohol, coca, hemp and opiates. In an original and novel way, Giganon introduced and recommended 'le gaz oxydule d'azote inspiré', or inhaled nitrous oxide gas.

History of Psychopharmacology.

We live in an age of psychopharmacology. One in six persons currently takes a psychotropic drug. These drugs have profoundly shaped our scientific and cultural understanding of psychiatric disease. By way of a historical review, we try to make sense of psychiatry's dependency on psychiatric drugs in the care of patients. Modern psychopharmacology began in 1950 with the synthesis of chlorpromazine. Over the course of the next 50 years, the psychiatric understanding and treatment of mental illness radically changed. Psychotropic drugs played a major part in these changes as state hospitals closed and psychotherapy gave way to drug prescriptions. Our review suggests that the success of psychopharmacology was not the consequence of increasingly more effective drugs for discrete psychiatric diseases. Instead, a complex mix of political economic realities, pharmaceutical marketing, basic science advances, and changes in the mental health-care system have led to our current infatuation with psychopharmacology.

Humane treatment versus means of control: coercive measures in Norwegian high-security psychiatry, 1895-1978.

This article analyses the use of coercive measures in two national institutions for high-security psychiatry in Norway - Kriminalasylet (Criminal Asylum) and Reitgjerdet - during the period 1895-1978. Historical study of coercion in psychiatry is a fruitful approach to new insight into the moral and ethical considerations within the institutions. We approach the topic through a qualitative study of patient case files and ward reports from the institutions' archives, as well as a comprehensive quantification of the coercive measures used. The data show shifting considerations of humane treatment and changes in the respect for human dignity in the institutions' practices. They also show that technological developments, such as the introduction of new psychopharmaceuticals, did not necessarily lead to higher standards of treatment.

[The origin of a differentiated neuropsychopharmacotherapy for children and adolescents: an analysis of psycho- and neuropharmacology in the 1940s and 50s]. / Die Anfänge einer differenzierten Neuropsychopharmakotherapie bei Kindern und Jugendlichen. Untersuchung zur Psycho- und Neuropharmakologie in den 40er und 50er Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts.

Objective: The origin of a differentiated approach to neuropsychopharmacotherapy in children and adolescents can be traced back to the 1940s and 50s. Certain clinical disorders in the range of psychiatry and neurology were treated with a multiplicity of substances. Method: We conducted an exclusive screening of 700 medical records of patients under 18 years of age from a psychiatric university hospital in Jena (from 1942­1945) and 89 files of children who attended Trüper's approved school in Jena between 1946 and 1954. Results: Differentiated therapies were administered for ailments such as acute anxiety states, erethism, hyperkinetic syndrome, enuresis, migraine, sleep disturbance, epilepsy, Sydenham's chorea, spasticity, neuralgia, neuritis, dizziness, pain syndrome, tetany, and syphilis. Conclusions: Interventions for mental disorders were relatively unspecific before the development of neuroleptic and antidepressant agents. During this time, multitudes of treatments were implemented for neurovegetative disorders, psychoneuroses, and different kinds of psychopathies. Barbiturates were administered in both pure and mixed forms. Additionally, since mental disorders were frequently caused by physical disorders, they could be eliminated or improved by the use of chemotherapeutics. Other somatic therapies like convulsive shock treatment with camphor and cardiazol, malaria treatments, hypoglycemic shock therapy, and electroconvulsive treatment have been applied in patients with schizophrenia.

What the History of Drugs Can Teach Us About the Current Cannabis Legalization Process: Unfinished Business.

Over time, there have been considerable changes in the variety, availability, production, distribution, and use and user(s) of psychoactive substances, the meaning of substance use and its impact on users and their social or physical environment(s). This article reviews the mechanisms of introduction of psychoactive substances such as alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea and cannabis to populations and communities that did not have them before. It considers the historical tension between early adopters who greet new substances with various levels of enthusiasm in their eagerness to enjoy what they believe to be the benefits of using these substances, and those focused on what they believe to be the negative aspects of use, who decry these new substances with horror. With more nonusers than users in the population, social policies tend to be directed at preventing, restricting, or punishing selected use, users and .drugs., using controls and interventions such regulation, incarceration, death sentence, treatment, prevention, legalization, taxation, among others. Whatever their intent or wished-for impact, all had consequences that produced additional, unplanned for, and (often) negative effects. This paper will consider some of these sequences as they occurred historically with other substances in light of the current shift to legalization and normalization of cannabis, noting the mechanisms of use, controls, and consequences of some types of formal interventions and give some attention to how and what we can learn from our experiences in order to plan ahead and become better prepared to successfully deal with the 'unexpecteds' of that well-known 'hell' paved with good intentions.

Clinical research before informed consent.

Clinical research with patient-subjects was routinely conducted without informed consent for research participation prior to 1966. The aim of this article is to illuminate the moral climate of clinical research at this time, with particular attention to placebo-controlled trials in which patient-subjects often were not informed that they were participating in research or that they might receive a placebo intervention rather than standard medical treatment or an experimental treatment for their condition. An especially valuable window into the thinking of clinical investigators about their relationship with patient-subjects in the era before informed consent is afforded by reflection on two articles published by psychiatric researchers in 1966 and 1967, at the point of transition between clinical research conducted under the guise of medical care and clinical research based on consent following an invitation to participate and disclosure of material information about the study. Historical inquiry relating to the practice of clinical research without informed consent helps to put into perspective the moral progress associated with soliciting consent following disclosure of pertinent information; it also helps to shed light on an important issue in contemporary research ethics: the conditions under which it is ethical to conduct clinical research without informed consent.

The importance of neuropsychopharmacology in the development of psychiatry.

The author establishes that Psychiatry has been in a difficult situation especially in Hungary since closing down the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology. He reviews the most important factors which hold up the development of Psychiatry. He settles that the development of Psychiatry is inconceivable without a person's holistic approach which assumes the biological, mental, cultural-social and spiritual approach. Disturbances of perception have particular roles in the formation of psychopathological symptoms which are based on the operation of the nervous system. This fact emphasises the importance of the nervous system and the neuropsychopharmacology which we have known since the beginning of history although it is hardly half a century old. He pays the attention to the psychoactive medicine that was well-known in the ancient civilization. He reviews some of them which were actually the first neuropsychopharmacological pharmaceuticals. He emphasises the dichotomy of the psychopathological symptoms which are partly objective, partly subjective but based on the operation of the nervous system by all means. His statements not only establish a new kind of approach of both the person and the Psychiatry but enables the development of Psychiatry, the creation of a new sort of diagnostic system, eliminating the variance among the experts dealing with people, the neurologists, the psychiatrists, the psychologists, the sociologists, the philosophers and the theologians, ensuring the biological (neurological), psychological, cultural and spiritual perpetuity. The biological, genetic, psychic, cultural-social and spiritual approach, the application of nanomedicine that enable not only recognising the organic neurological bases of the psychiatric disorders that are all crucial for the future researchers but also essential in the development of the neuropsychopharmacology based on the function of the nervous system.

Psychoactive and other ceremonial plants from a 2,000-year-old Maya ritual deposit at Yaxnohcah, Mexico.

For millennia, healing and psychoactive plants have been part of the medicinal and ceremonial fabric of elaborate rituals and everyday religious practices throughout Mesoamerica. Despite the essential nature of these ritual practices to the societal framework of past cultures, a clear understanding of the ceremonial life of the ancient Maya remains stubbornly elusive. Here we record the discovery of a special ritual deposit, likely wrapped in a bundle, located beneath the end field of a Late Preclassic ballcourt in the Helena complex of the Maya city of Yaxnohcah. This discovery was made possible by the application of environmental DNA technology. Plants identified through this analytical process included Ipomoea corymbosa (xtabentun in Mayan), Capsicum sp. (chili pepper or ic in Mayan), Hampea trilobata (jool), and Oxandra lanceolata (chilcahuite). All four plants have recognized medicinal properties. Two of the plants, jool and chilcahuite, are involved in artifact manufacture that have ceremonial connections while chili peppers and xtabentun have been associated with divination rituals. Xtabentun (known to the Aztecs as ololiuhqui) produces highly efficacious hallucinogenic compounds and is reported here from Maya archaeological contexts for the first time.

Botany meets archaeology: people and plants in the past.

This paper explores the close links between botany and archaeology, using case studies from the ancient Mediterranean. It explains the kinds of palaeobotanical remains that archaeologists can recover and the methods used to analyse them. The importance of iconographic and textual evidence is also underlined. Examples of key research areas that focus on ancient plants are discussed: diet and palaeoeconomy; medicines, poisons, and psychotropics; perfumes, cosmetics, and dyes; and prestige.

Drugs in context: a historical perspective on theories of psychopharmaceutical efficacy.

This article demonstrates that psychoanalysis and socially oriented psychiatry were crucial to the understanding and adoption of the first effective psychopharmaceuticals in North American psychiatry. In the 1950s and the early 1960s, psychoanalysts, socially oriented psychiatrists, and biologists collaborated, debated, and organized interdisciplinary conferences to situate the biochemistry of new psychopharmaceuticals, such as chlorpromazine, in the broader psychosocial context of patients' lives. Psychoanalytical and sociological perspectives not only helped American psychiatrists explain the mechanism of drug action in research but also established the professional authority of psychiatrists over the new pharmaceuticals. As modern pharmacology narrows its focus to microscopic targets in the body, I argue that this early drug research illustrates the present-day need for holistic and interdisciplinary approaches to drug response that acknowledge the psychosocial significance of psychiatric medication in the lives of individuals.

Cultural psychiatry in the French-speaking world.

For the last five centuries, France's international influence has been constant. This has been particularly evident in the areas of general culture, history and science. In psychiatry, the role of Pinel during the French Revolution, and the discovery of the first psychotropic agent, chlorpromazine, by Delay and Deniker are two outstanding historical facts. This chapter examines the contributions of French social scientists in the understanding of the sequelae of colonial exploitation, racism and political oppression. The establishment of a multi-ethnic society in France and Francophile regions of the world has led to the gradual creation of a cultural psychiatry rich in terminological influences, clinical understanding, training programs and research. Closer connections between French psychiatric thought and Anglophile psychiatry is likely to produce beneficial effects.

[Turning an addictive drug into a remedy--the assessment of sedatives at the Charité Nervenklinik from 1962-75]. / Von der Suchtdroge zum Therapeutikum--Zur Bewertung von Beruhigungsmitteln an der Charité Nervenklinik von 1962-75.

On which evidence did psychiatrists at the East-Berlin Charité Hospital base the diagnosis of substance abuse? This article aims to reconstruct criteria of abuse, dependency and misuse of pharmaceuticals, drawing on patient files from the Psychiatric Clinic from 1962-1975. To assess preclinical sedative use, a quantitative and qualitative analysis is carried out. It shows how sedative consumption was less and less seen as misuse. The article argues that Karl Leonhard's retirement from his position as the director of the clinic in 1970 gave way to a substantial restructuring of clinical practice which changed the understanding of substance abuse. Where Leonhard focused on prognosis based on diagnostic evaluation, next-generation psychiatrists concentrated on psychotropic substances and made them an essential and legitimate element of psychiatric therapy.

The mental health sector and the social sciences in post- World War II USA. Part 2: The impact of federal research funding and the drugs revolution.

The second of two linked papers examining the interactions of psychiatry and the social sciences since World War II examines the role of NIMH on these disciplines. It analyses the effects of the prominence and the decline of psychoanalysis, and the impact of the psychotropic drugs revolution and the associated rise of biological psychiatry on relations between psychiatry and clinical psychology; and it explores the changing relationships between psychiatry and sociology, from collaboration to conflict to mutual disdain.

[Melatonin as a universal stabilizing factor of mental activity].

Pineal hormone melatonin stabilizes mental activity of man and animals due to its somnogenic, anxiolytic, antidepressant and nootropic properties. Melatonin effects are based on the synchronization of biological rhythms via the influence on the cerebral structures which control biological rhythms and emotions and normalize endocrine and immune state.

Strange fires, weird smokes and psychoactive combustibles: entheogens and incense in ancient traditions.

This paper seeks to emphasize what may be the most primary mode of altering consciousness in the ancient world: namely, the burning of substances for inhalation in enclosed areas. While there is abundant literature on archaic uses of entheogenic plants, the literature on psychoactive incenses is quite deficient. From the tents of nomadic tribes to the small meditation rooms of Taoist adepts, the smoldering fumes of plants and resins have been used to invoke and banish and for shamanic travels since humanity mastered fire. The text provides details of primary "incense cults" while highlighting some commonalities and shared influences when possible. Further speculation suggests that selective burning of certain substances, such as mercury and sulphur, may have contributed to their lasting use and veneration in alchemy from India and China to the Arabian and European protochemists. This article would have a companion online database for images and further examples of ingredients in various incenses from China to ancient Greece.