Continuity and discontinuity in the historical development of modern psychopharmacology.
In the middle of the twentieth century psychiatry underwent a transition that is often referred to as the "psychopharmacology revolution." Implicit in the term revolution is the idea that a paradigm shift occurred. Specifically, it has been argued that psychiatry abandoned the psychoanalytic paradigm in favor of a qualitatively distinct conceptual system based on brain chemistry. The validity of this view requires that psychoanalysis had the status of a paradigm. This paper presents evidence that psychoanalysis did not constitute a paradigm and that the advent of psychopharmacology was not, technically, a scientific revolution. Instead, the rise of modern psychopharmacology was the culmination of a linear growth of biological knowledge that began to develop in the nineteenth century.
Baumeister
Alan A
AA
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. baumei@lsu.edu
Hawkins
Mike F
MF
D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history; D011600:Psychopharmacology / Q000266:history*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000266:history; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000266:history; D009626:Terminology as Topic
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs