Psychiatric therapy biological

The readiness to experiment displayed by several biologically interested psychiatrists trying out pharmacological remedies to more effective psychiatric therapy. 

Sociocultural, illness, and biological factors affect individual attitudes towards psychotropic medications. Health beliefs or explanatory models, particularly causal attributions regarding the illness and the treatment options afforded within such models, exert a profound influence on patients attitudes and behavior regarding medications (Smith, Lin Mendoza, 1993). Such effects can be subtle and can occur during the course of treatment even if there has been initial successful negotiation about the nature of the illness and treatment. In psychiatric illness little research has been leveled at the personal meaning that patients bring to treatment practices such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), oral medications, and depot injections, or to the transition between different administrative routes and types of medications. 

Shock Therapy. The early 20th century saw the development of the first effective biological treatments for depression, the shock therapies. The first shock treatments used injection of horse serum or insulin. A major advance in treatment occurred with the advent of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in 1934. Although initially used to treat schizophrenia, ECT was soon found to be highly effective for other psychiatric disorders including depression and mania. ECT remained the primary biological psychiatric treatment until the widespread release of psychiatric medications in the 1950s. 

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). Introduced in the mid-1930s, ECT was initially used to treat schizophrenia (for which it is not effective) but was later found to be very effective in the treatment of major depression and mania. It gained widespread use and was the primary biological psychiatric treatment until the introduction of newer psychiatric medications in the 1950s. 

Nobler MS, Sackeim HA Augmentation strategies in electroconvulsive therapy a synthesis. Convulsive Therapy 9 331-351, 1993 Nobler MS, Sackeim HA Electroconvulsive therapy clinical and biological aspects, in Prediction of Treatment Response in Mood Disorders. Edited by Goodnick P. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Press, 1996, pp 177-198 Nobler MS, Sackeim HA, Solomou M, et al EEG manifestations during ECT effects of electrode placement and stimulus intensity. Biol Psychiatry 34 321-330, 1993 Nobler MS, Sackeim HA, Prohovnik 1, et al Regional cerebral blood flow in mood disorders. III treatment and clinical response. Arch Gen Psychiatry 51 884-897, 1994... 

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