Health and Medicine
106 Psychopharmacology Revolution
Tess Keenan
Introduction
Our world went through a “psychopharmacology revolution” between 1950 and 1970. This time involved a shift from psychotherapy and nonpharmacologic somatic therapies to an incline in the reliance of drugs for treatment. This shift was described as changing from psychoanalysis to neurochemistry, or understanding there was scientifical evidence for mental health. The rise of psychopharmacology in the nineteenth century began the process to gain more biological knowledge regarding mental illnesses (Baumeister, 2006). People who struggle with mental illnesses can live much more fulfilling lives in current society due to new treatment methods such as talk therapy, psychopharmacology, and deinstitutionalization compared to ancient harmful treatments.
Connection to STS
The development of mental illnesses and how they are treated is very closely associated to STS. Science and technology in society is all about the relationship of these three things and how they work together. Technology is continuing to advance everyday in our society. Technology has been proven to have great affects on people with mental health issues especially due to social media. However, it has also become a great tool to help people struggling. The discovery of virtual reality has been an important asset. It can be used to show real world environment scenarios as exposure therapy, virtual classrooms provide an individualized scenario, and the virtual reality functional capacity tool is used to simulate daily routine activities (Harvey and Keefe, 2012). VR has different benefits for different illnesses which include exposure therapy, practice of social skills, cognitive behavioral therapy, and assessing mental health. VR allows both assessment and treatment and it is so efficient because it can all be done remotely (Harvey and Keefe, 2012). This shows science and technology being used to create new treatment methods for the benefit of society.
Evolution of mental health
In this age of reform, mental health became a priority for the government. Major changes that occurred were the transference of responsibilities to localities, adoption of Community Support Programs enabling community care systems for patients after institutionalization, and the use of Medicaid financing to provide a significant amount of community care costs. The states began to prioritize funding for mental health patients to make treatment seeking easier. This new public mental health system was much more beneficial, and humane compared to how state-run hospitals were previously run (Hogan, 1999).
The stigma around mental illness has evolved over time. In ancient times, most people did not even believe mental illnesses were a real thing or they believed it was due to supernatural causes. Since they believed it was caused by evil spirits, their treatment methods included prayers, rituals, exorcisms in an attempt to drive away evil spirits. The Middle Ages perspective of mental illness was based more on religion and superstition. Individuals were isolated from society and stigmatized. Their treatments included insane asylums and torture with bad cases(Mind, 2024). The 19th century was when developments began to be made, and psychotherapy and psychopharmacology were introduced.
Therapy has evolved into forms of medication and cognitive and behavioral therapies. Combination therapy of using different methods has proven to be the most effective and long lasting (Cox, 2018). Treatment seeking has increased dramatically over the past 20 years because of newer and more effective treatments that have come to light (Johnson, 2021). Psychopharmacology began to flourish in the twentieth century and any drug that had a psychotropic action was being tested on mental patients. Chlorpromazine is a drug that was used in surgery for a calming effect. Physiatrists’ discovery of this for mental patients was a major step in the development in modern antipsychotics. Iproniazid is an antidepressant drug that was originally used to treat tuberculosis but became effective for people with depression. In the later 20th century, the deinstitutionalization movement led to many psychiatric hospitals closing. Community based care was prioritized instead. Psychotherapy is a talking based approach to work through mental issues. This gained popularity and proved to help patients control and manage their symptoms( Mind, 2024).
Conclusion
Science and technology have played a major role in the development of mental illnesses and treatment. Science has provided knowledge and proof that these are real diseases and not made up like ancient societies believed. Technology has offered different treatment methods to improve these cases. Science and technology are improving every day and will continue to discover new methods and treatment options. This has had such a positive impact on our society and the stigma around mental health. People are no longer shamed, but offered the help they need to live a normal and fulfilling life.
References
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Baumeister, A. A., & Hawkins, M. F. (2005). Continuity and discontinuity in the historical development of modern psychopharmacology. Journal of the history of the neurosciences, 14(3), 199–209. https://doi.org/10.1080/096470490512562
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Cox, A. (2018, October 24). The evolution of Mental Health and Mental Health Treatment. Boston University Libraries OpenBU. https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/33013
Harvey, P. D., & Se Keefe, R. (2012). Technology, society, and mental illness: challenges and opportunities for assessment and treatment. Innovations in clinical neuroscience, 9(11-12), 47–50.
Hogan A. J. (2019). Social and medical models of disability and mental health: evolution and renewal. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l’Association medicale canadienne, 191(1), E16–E18. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.181008
Hogan, M. (1999). Perspective: Public-Sector Mental Health Care: New Challenges. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.18.5.106
Johnson, A. L. (2021). Changes in Mental Health and Treatment, 1997–2017. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 62(1), 53-68.
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Mind, T. V. (2024, May 3). The evolution of mental health treatment throughout history. Medium. https://thevexmind.medium.com/title-the-evolution-of-mental-health-treatment-throughout-history-758d9b0957ef