East-Side story: the standardisation of psychotropic drugs at the Charité Psychiatric Clinic, 1955-1970.
The present article illustrates the history of psychotropic drugs introduced in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1945 onwards. We begin by examining the introduction of an anti-depressant and a tranquilizer at the university psychiatric clinic, Charité, in East Berlin. On the basis of patient files, we consider the monitoring routines, altered by the use of psychotropic drugs, and the difficulties that arose when these routines were translated into existing research programs. In the 1960s, attempts to evaluate the psychiatric practice were based on psychopathology whereas at the end of the 1960s there was a shift to "target symptoms".
Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Charité Centrum 1 für Human- und Gesundheitswissenschaften (ZHGB), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Ziegelstr. 10 (Hofeinfahrt), D-10117 Berlin, Germany. v.balz@web.de
Viola
V
Balz
Matthias
M
Hoheisel
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000266:history*; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history; D001604:Berlin; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005859:Germany, East; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000266:history*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D011599:Psychopathology / Q000266:history; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards; D014495:Universities / Q000266:history
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents