Wonder Drugs and LSD part 1 Flashcards
What was the 1928 Penicillin thought of as?
magic bullet
Which was the first described drug categorically to reduct the spread and outbreak of disease that was not disease specific?
penicillin
What was there a search for drug wise?
search for some kind of substance to relieve pain
How did the world wars stimulate research? (3 reasons)
- ‘shell shock’
- screening before service and demand for services following the war
- Nazi experiments regarded as unethical, but produced a lot of scientific intrigue
What did the search for ‘magic bullet’ lead to the study of?
chemicals
The search for ‘magic bullet’ led to the study of chemicals in what 4 areas?
- rise of bacteriology, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, etc.
- drug experimentation
- clinical and patient experimentation
- tranquilizers
How did people in asylums pay back the state?
by contributing their bodies to experimentation
When placing people in asylums begun to be viewed as less acceptable, and medical science is defined as something that should be able to determine causes and cures, a number of societies were set up to do what? What are three examples of these things?
- financial incentives for studying disorders
- a number of societies are set up to further this cause and provide financial resources for studies of mental disorders
- Ex. National Institute of Mental Health Research, Canadian Mental Health Association, Rockefeller grants
What did the globalization of experiments require?
money
After penicillin, what was the next magic bullet?
Chlorpromazine
Who discovered Chlorpromazine?
Henri Laborit
Who is Henri Laborit?
A French surgeon during WWII. He worked with antihistamines and found sedative properties.
What is chlorpromazine used for?
- anti-psychotic medication
- way to calm people down
- sedative
What did Henri Laborit do after he discovered chlorpromazine? What did this lead to?
published it which lead to psychiatrists reading it and beginning to use it on psychotic patients and it reduced their symptoms.
What did Laborit synthesis chlorpromazine with?
Rhone-poulenc
What did Laborit try chlorpromazine on in 1951? Results? What did he do in 1952?
- In 1951 he tried it on a a female colleague (who promptly fainted)
- In 1952, he persuaded three psychiatrists to give it to their patients
By 1953, chlorpromazine had done what to French psychiatry?
transformed it
What is known as the first ‘anti-psychotic’?
chlorpromazine
What was wrong with chlorpromazine?
Some patients began exhibiting side affects such as tar dive dyskinesia
What did people believe chlorpromazine could do?
allow people to live outside of the asylum
What encouraged further experimentation with chemicals?
the success of chlorpromazine
What inspired a psychopharmacological revolution?
chlorpromazine
Why is chlorpromazine important?
because it helped convince scientific community that there were chemicals to change behaviour.
-inspires idea that you could have a drug culture that would allow people more autonomy
What formed thesis of a ‘psychopharm revolution’?
Discoveries of anti-psychotics (chlorpromazine), anti-mania (lithium), and anti-depressants (imipramine)
When were more psychopharmaceuticals introduced then ever before or after?
The 1950s
What did the move away from therapies to drugs in the 1950s allow?
- Allow you to stay in your own home
- Modern living and health care
Pharmaceutical drug use
1965 amphetamines in the US, __million prescriptions
Tranquillizers___million prescriptions (midtown, valium)
___million American women on ‘the pill’ in 1965
- 24
- 123
- 6.5
What is unique about tranquillizers?
The were not used by people in asylums but by people in their own homes
People embraced chemicals as a way of what?
progressive modern living
When and who discovered LSD?
Albert Hofmann in 1938
Who is Albert Hofmann? Where is he from?
- organic chemist
- Zurich, Switzerland
What kind of experimentation did Hofmann do?
-Self-experimentation, insects, animals
How did Albert Hoffman discover LSD?
- Looking at Ergot
- Vile 25
- broke it and it spilled on his hand, feels dizzy, nauseous, got on bike, felt like he was in a kaleidoscope, like he’s turned himself mad, fine the next day, “we should try it again”
How many years of medical research with LSD? Who all contributed? What countries?
- 15 years (1951-1966)
- psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists, scientists, writers, philosophers
- Europe, England, Canada, USA, Japan
What did Hofmann’s discovery of LSD generate?
A powerful wave of interest in brain chemistry and, together with the development of tranquilizers, was directly responsible for what has been called the “golden age of psychopharmacology”
Which province was one of the major players in psychedelic research?
Saskatchewan
Who was Humphry Osmond and why was he important?
- British psychiatrist
- Answered ad by Tommy Douglas
- He helped enhance the medicare program
- 1952 experiments in Saskatchewan
- Interested in kinds of delusions that people were having
What did Osmond concentrate on?
the subjective experience
What were the two ways to use the psychedelic drugs?
1) to use it to understand schizophrenia
2) to treat alcoholism
Who is Aldous Huxley and why is he important?
- Osmand gets letter to Huxley
- Invites Osmond to give him mescaline and LSK
- Inspired him to write book
- He wanted a word to describe sensations
- He came up with psychadelic
What are the origins of the word “psychedelic” therapy?
-Greek: ‘psyche’ mind and ‘delos’ meaning clarity; mind-manifesting
What does psychedelic therapy suggest?
That psychotic disorders are not really a dysfunction in the perception of reality, but rather a disturbance in perception more generally.
What was was the impact of LSK research on psychiatry?
- combine bio-chemical research with psychological theories
- auto-experimentation (empathy)
- model psychosis
- addictions research
