Medicines and other physical treatments

IN THE OLDEN DAYS PEOPLE WITH SEVERE PSYCHOSES HAD TO BE SHUT AWAY,
PUT IN STRAITJACKETS, CHAINED TO THE FLOOR AND RESTRAINED IN WAYS THAT YOU CAN SEE IN MUSEUMS OF PSYCHIATRY.

In the early 1950s the discovery was made that an existing medicine – chlorpromazine – was helpful in calming patients and bringing them round to a better sense of reality. Other major tranquillizers were soon discovered and much money and effort were put into developing antipsychotic medicines that would have less of the side effects that the first generation of antipsychotics were found to have. But so far the ‘wonder drug’ has not yet been discovered. Different meds have different side effects and it is a matter of trial and error to find what suits you best in terms of controlling symptoms with the least possible side effects.

Another kind of physical treatment still occasionally used is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is helpful in removing delusional fixations but also damages the memory for a period of months or years.

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