ABSTRACT
This chapter is about drug treatment of mental disorders, and will also deal briefly with the use of drugs as tools in psychiatric research. Hallucinogens and psychostimulants have no established therapeutic applications in psychiatry and will only be mentioned in connection with their psychotomimetic actions. Alcohol, barbiturates and opiates have important actions on mood and mental processes but are virtually obsolete as psychotherapeutic agents. These drugs are commonly used illicitly, and cause drug dependence, a topic which is dealt with elsewhere in this book. A consideration of the treatment of mental disorders specifically associated with senility and organic brain disease is also outside the scope of this chapter.
