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Science 26 May 1978:
Vol. 200. no. 4344, pp. 974 - 981
DOI: 10.1126/science.25487
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Articles

Science, Vol 200, Issue 4344, 974-981
Copyright © 1978 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Medical treatment of mental illness

PA Berger

Psychotherapeutic drugs have dramatically improved the prognosis for patients with severe mental illness. The drug treatments are not a panacea. The medications sometimes cause irreversible side effects, and they are not helpful for all patients. They allow large numbers of individuals to leave the hospital, but to return to communities that are often poorly prepared to provide continuing care. Despite their limitations, psychotherapeutic drugs relieve a great deal of human suffering. They also involve psychiatry in modern biological science. This has led to the continuing search for more effective medications based on the study of possible biochemical substrates of psychiatric disorders.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Civil Commitment of the Mentally Ill: An Overview.
M. J. MILLS (1986)
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 484, 28-41
   Abstract »
Antipsychotic drug action in schizophrenic patients: effect on cortical dopamine metabolism after long-term treatment.
N. Bacopoulos, E. Spokes, E. Bird, and R. Roth (1979)
Science 205, 1405-1407
   Abstract »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)