ABSTRACT
The modern era of effective drug treatments in psychiatry began over 50 years ago with the discovery in 1948 by John Cade in Australia of the use of lithium salts in mania, and by French scientists in 1952 of the use of the synthetic phenothiazine, chlorpromazine, as an antipsychotic; older ‘pragmatic’ treatments such as bromides could then be discarded (Shorter 1997). Plants with medicinal uses affecting the mind include St Johns Wort (Hypericum alkaloids), which has only recently been confirmed in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to have antidepressant activity.
