Heinz Lehmann Introduces Imipramine

Abstract

Introduces Imipramine T hese excerpts date from the dawn of modem psychopharmacology, when there were almost no effective antidepressants. Heinz Lehmann was a great pioneer in developing drug treatment for mental disorders. Here he describes clinical trials of imipramine, a drug that had been recently tested in Europe and was destined to become a standard treatment for decades to come.

Celebrating 70 Years of the First Publication on Antipsychotic Treatment in North America by Heinz E. Lehmann and Gorman E. Hanrahan: Would Their Methodology Still Be Conceivable?

“…In 1944, he published among other interesting papers, an article on the use of massive doses of nicotinic acid in the treatment of posttraumatic confusional state 2 . In 1947, he was appointed Clinical Director of the Verdun Protestant Hospital where he remained affiliated for 60 years 1 . In 1948, he became a naturalized Canadian citizen and he was hired as an assistant professor at McGill, later attaining the rank for full professor.…”

“…Heinz Edgar Lehmann, a pioneer of psychopharmacology, was born in Berlin, Germany on July 17, 1911, graduated from the University of Berlin in 1935, emigrated to Canada in 1937, fleeing from Nazi Germany, and took a post at the Verdun Protestant Hospital (Montreal's Douglas Hospital) as a junior psychiatrist 1 . In 1944, he published among other interesting papers, an article on the use of massive doses of nicotinic acid in the treatment of posttraumatic confusional state 2 .…”

“…In 1948, he became a naturalized Canadian citizen and he was hired as an assistant professor at McGill, later attaining the rank for full professor. In 1949, he developed a hypnotic with a short half-life made of scopolamine, apomorphine, phenobarbital, hexobarbital, and nicotinic acid 1,2 . From 1970 to 1974, he was Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, and he published more than 300 articles, mostly on psychopharmacology 3,4 .…”

“…Interestingly, Lehmann, who read Freud's work as a school boy in Berlin, viewed some aspects of psychoanalysis positively, similarly to Roland Kuhn. This holistic patient view may have helped him in his clinical observations and his deeply humanistic care of his patients 1,3,4 …”

“…Chlorpromazine was the first synthetic drug used to control states of mania and psychomotor excitement, marking the birth of modern psychopharmacology, and Lehmann gave a full clinical description of what we now call its antipsychotic effects. This groundbreaking clinical observation was responsible for turning chlorpromazine into the first neuroleptic medication in history, hailed as the first “antipsychotic” medication 1,3 . Chlorpromazine reduces the intensity of psychotic symptoms, reducing schizophrenia positive symptoms, such as delusion and hallucinations.…”