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Psychopharmacology is the study of the effects of any psychoactive drug that acts upon the mind by affecting brain chemistry. Amanita muscaria (the common Fly Agaric) is often regarded as the first such drug, with modern theories positing the discovery of its psychoactive properties circa 10,000 BCE. Modern psychopharmacology studies a wide range of chemicals with many different types of effect.1 History
Psychoactive drug use predates recorded history. Hunter-gatherer societies tend to favor hallucinogenic drugs, and today their use can still be observed in many surviving tribal cultures. The exact drug used depends on what the particular ecosystem a given tribe lives in can support, and are typically found growing wild. Such drugs include various hallucinogenic mushroom s and cacti, along with many other plants. These societies generally attach spiritual significance to drug use, and often incorporate it into their religious practices.
With the dawn of the Neolithic and the proliferation of agriculture, new entheogens came into use as a natural by-product of farming. Among them were opium, cannabissee text Cannabis is a genus of dioecious, annual herbs that belong to the family Cannabaceae, which was formerly placed with the nettles in the order Urticales, but is now in the order Rosales. There is phylogenetic controversy as to whether the cultivat, and alcoholIn general usage, alcohol (from Arabic al-khwl , or al-ghawl ) refers almost always to ethanol, also known as grain alcohol and often to any beverage that contains ethanol (see alcoholic beverage . This sense underlies the term alcoholism ( addiction to a, derived from the fermentation of cereals and fruits. Most societies began developing herblores, lists of herbs which were good for treating various physical and mental ailments. For example, St. John's Wort was traditionally prescribed in EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se for depression (in addition to use as a general-purpose good-tasting teaThis article is about the beverage. For alternative meanings, see tea (disambiguation). Tang Dynasty ( 618- 907). Tea is a caffeinated beverage, an infusion made by steeping the dried leaves or buds of the shrub Camellia sinensis in hot water. In addition), and Chinese medicine developed elaborate lists of herbs and preparations.
With the scientific revolutionThis article is about the period in history, not the process of scientific progress via revolution, proposed by Thomas Kuhn and discussed at paradigm shift The scientific revolution is the name given by historians of science to the period that roughly beg in EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se and America, the use of traditional herbal remedies fell out of favor with the mainstream medical establishment, although a few people continued to use and maintain knowledge of traditional European herblore. In the early 20th century, scientists began reassessing this rejection of traditional herbs in medicine. A number of important psychiatric drugs have been developed as a byproduct of the analysis of organic compounds present in traditional herbal remedies. The use of psychiatric drugs to restore mental health, or at least limit aberrant behaviour, has only been part of the European and American medical institution since the 1950s, when a number of new classes of drugs were discovered, notably tranquillizers and antidepressants, and LSD was popularized among many psychiatrists as a mental miracle drug capable of curing all manner of problems.
In the latter half of the 20th century, research into new psychopharmacologic drugs exploded, with many new drugs discovered, created, and tested. Many once-popular drugs are now out of favor, and there are fashions in psychiatric drugs, as with any other kind of drug.
