RT Book, Section A1 N. Juurlink, David A2 Nelson, Lewis S. A2 Howland, Mary Ann A2 Lewin, Neal A. A2 Smith, Silas W. A2 Goldfrank, Lewis R. A2 Hoffman, Robert S. SR Print(0) ID 1163014148 T1 Antipsychotics T2 Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies, 11e YR 2019 FD 2019 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259859618 LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1163014148 RD 2024/10/07 AB The development of antipsychotic drugs dramatically altered the practice of psychiatry and eventually, medical care in general. Before the introduction of chlorpromazine in 1950, patients with schizophrenia were treated with nonspecific sedatives such as barbiturates or chloral hydrate. Agitated patients were housed in large “mental institutions” and often placed in physical restraints, and thousands underwent surgical disruption of the connections between the frontal cortices and other areas of the brain (leucotomy). By 1955, approximately 500,000 patients with mental health disorders were institutionalized in the United States. The advent of antipsychotic drugs in the 1950s revolutionized the care of these patients. These drugs, originally termed major tranquilizers and subsequently neuroleptics, dramatically reduced the characteristic hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders and paranoia—the “positive” symptoms of schizophrenia.