تطور علم الأدوية النفسية في نصف قرن من خمسينيات القرن العشرين إلى بدايات القرن الحادي والعشرين

During half a century, the field of psychopharmacology was characterized by continuous efforts to synthesize and classify psychoactive drugs. In the 1950s the potency of chlorpromazine (largactil) to treat psychosis, TCAs and MAOIs to treat depression, and lithium carbonate to treat mania was discovered. In the 1960s, the mechanisms of neural transmission, within and between neurons, were revealed. Scientists worked hard to discern the characteristics of neurotransmitters and neuron receptors so as to synthesize psycho tropics whose pharmaceutical properties could affect the processes of neural transmissions, with minimal side effects. Consequently, psychoactive drugs with more efficacy were synthesized including second generation antipsychotics and antidepressants. The last decade of the past century was marked by a significant shift in the use of psycho tropics. Instead of their therapeutic effect, some psychoactive drugs are used by healthy individuals to enhance performance: physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially. Cosmetic psychopharmacology is the name given to this emerging subfield