Biochemical aspects of schizophrenia and pharmacodynamic implications.

Abstract

A RIGOROUS APPROACH to the study of disease would start with a thorough clinical analysis of a disorder or group of disorders and proceed with the elaboration of an adequate therapy. The history of medicine reveals, however, that this logical procedure has rarely been employed. On the contrary, in many instances a very efficient therapy was found, and then, investigations of the possible underlying mechanisms were undertaken or simply left to physiologists or pharmacologists. This has been the case in the treatment of decompensated heart failures with digitalis, the treatment of pernicious anemia with liver extracts, and that of rheumatic fever with ACTH and cortico-steroids. The malaria therapy in general paresis, the electroshock treatment of involutional depression, and, more recently, the successful administration of Rauwolfia alkaloids and phenothiazine derivatives in schizophrenia are cases in point in the field of psychiatry (Kass and Brown, 1955). None of these often spectacular effects have been elucidated in a satisfactory way, but their mere existence constitutes a considerable stimulus for research.The observation that certain abnormal behavioral reactions can