THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY

40 years of modern psychopharmacology justify a psychiatric evaluation of its beginnings. In the first place, some almost forgotten, unfulfilled hopes shall be considered-success will be remembered anyway. New experiences required new concepts, and eventually a theoretically oriented discipline was transformed into a more pragmatic one by psychopharmacology. A new type of psychiatrist emerged, whose publications were now judged by statistical methods. Social psychiatry became also very active. After all these changes, psychiatry began to seek the dialogue with the general public.