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Leeches and Psychotropic Drugs Part Three
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I’m blogging my response to Robert Whitaker’s book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs and the Rise of Mental Illness in America. In Part One, I explored the historical disconnect between popular support for a medical treatment and the fact that this treatment may be ineffective or even dangerous, with no supporting research. Part Two reviewed the statistics for the epidemic.
Today’s subjet is “magic bullets.” Medicine does have some. Antibiotics and insulin are examples. Researchers identified a medical condition, like bacterial infection or insulin deficiency, and then they developed a medicine that would fix it… Antibiotics to kill the bacteria, and insulin to provide insulin.
Today’s subjet is “magic bullets.” Medicine does have some. Antibiotics and insulin are examples. Researchers identified a medical condition, like bacterial infection or insulin deficiency, and then they developed a medicine that would fix it… Antibiotics to kill the bacteria, and insulin to provide insulin.
The “magic bullets” of psychiatric drugs evolved from a very different process. It might be more apt to label them “stray bullets.” For example, Thorzine, the drug that, in the author’s words, kicked off the whole psychopharmaceutical revolution, had its origins in a search for a drug that would be toxic to malarial microbes. That search came to a dead end, but... all was not lost, because it was discovered that one of the compounds might be useful as an antihistamine in surgery.
Unfortunately, the blood-pressure-lowering side effect was causing patients to die, and so the application was discontinued. One doctor, however, discovered that the drug produced a “veritable medicinal lobotomy”—and a magic bullet was born. In the 1950’s, chlorpromazine (Thorzine) began to be administered to psychotic patients, and the drug that was rendering patients quiet and manageable spread like wildfire through the asylums. When a drug treatment becomes so widely prescribed, it is difficult to keep in mind that it is not treating any disease.
Thorzine is considered a major tranquilizer. How about the minor ones? Well, they also began with a search for something else. Scientists were looking for a drug that would kill the bacteria that penicillin couldn’t zap, and to that end, they were isolating a compound found in disinfectants. Research showed that this compound produced temporary paralysis of muscles, but, what was even more interesting, is that the mice who were being experimented on, did not seem to be upset when they found themselves on their backs and unable to move. Their heartrate remained steady. They were not stressed. And, low and behold, meprobonate found its way to the market in 1955 as “Miltown,” and the race for anti-anxiety drugs was on. Four years later, chlordiazepoxide made it to the shelves as “Librium.”
Unfortunately, the blood-pressure-lowering side effect was causing patients to die, and so the application was discontinued. One doctor, however, discovered that the drug produced a “veritable medicinal lobotomy”—and a magic bullet was born. In the 1950’s, chlorpromazine (Thorzine) began to be administered to psychotic patients, and the drug that was rendering patients quiet and manageable spread like wildfire through the asylums. When a drug treatment becomes so widely prescribed, it is difficult to keep in mind that it is not treating any disease.
Thorzine is considered a major tranquilizer. How about the minor ones? Well, they also began with a search for something else. Scientists were looking for a drug that would kill the bacteria that penicillin couldn’t zap, and to that end, they were isolating a compound found in disinfectants. Research showed that this compound produced temporary paralysis of muscles, but, what was even more interesting, is that the mice who were being experimented on, did not seem to be upset when they found themselves on their backs and unable to move. Their heartrate remained steady. They were not stressed. And, low and behold, meprobonate found its way to the market in 1955 as “Miltown,” and the race for anti-anxiety drugs was on. Four years later, chlordiazepoxide made it to the shelves as “Librium.”
How about the magic bullet for depression? Same story: stray bullets. Hydrazine was developed during World War II as a fuel substitute. After the war, the drug companies snatched up the surplus to test the toxic properties for “magic bullet” potential. Two hydrazine compounds were found effective against the tuberculosis bacillus. Good news, but something interesting was happening to the patients to whom it was administered. They were being energized—dancing on their beds, even. By 1957, in spite of alarming side effects, iproniazid was being recommended for long-term use with depressed patients.
Meanwhile… back at the Amercian Medical Association ranch, things were changing. In the 1950’s the Food and Drug Administration took over the job of licensing and approving drugs, and most drugs became available by prescription only. The AMA was no longer the watchdog, but the exclusive purveyors, and by 1960, pharmaceutical ads in AMA publications were bringing in $10 million in annual revenue. The PR rush was on. And as the miracle stories multiplied, the rhetoric began to shift.
Tranquilizers became “antipsychotics,” and muscle relaxants became “mood normalizers.” The psychic energizers were “anti-depressants.” The public began to view these as antidotes to specific disorders, and scientists were under pressure to come up with a theory about broken brains to support the "magic bullets" that were achieving celebrity status.
Click here to go back to Part One.
Click here to go to Part Four.
Meanwhile… back at the Amercian Medical Association ranch, things were changing. In the 1950’s the Food and Drug Administration took over the job of licensing and approving drugs, and most drugs became available by prescription only. The AMA was no longer the watchdog, but the exclusive purveyors, and by 1960, pharmaceutical ads in AMA publications were bringing in $10 million in annual revenue. The PR rush was on. And as the miracle stories multiplied, the rhetoric began to shift.
Tranquilizers became “antipsychotics,” and muscle relaxants became “mood normalizers.” The psychic energizers were “anti-depressants.” The public began to view these as antidotes to specific disorders, and scientists were under pressure to come up with a theory about broken brains to support the "magic bullets" that were achieving celebrity status.
Click here to go back to Part One.
Click here to go to Part Four.
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