65 years ago today, the first antidepressant, Imipramin, was discovered by Roland Kuhn.
However,Kuhn, a psychiatrist, conducted unethical and scientifically questionable research on patients without consent in a Swiss psychiatric hospital for decades.
@skepteis
"First" antidepressant is only true within the context of modern pharmaceutical licensing. Earlier drugs used to treat depression included bromides, cocaine, amphetamines, and cotinine (the major metabolite of nicotine). These early drugs were mostly abandoned due to toxicity or addictive properties.
Cotinine is receiving new attention and research, since it has more targeted neurochemical effects than nicotine, including less of the adrenergic activity that leads to hypertension.
@skepteis
No worries, I'm still adjusting to the character limit myself, since I wasn't a Twitter user. But it's worth recognizing that there's a long history of psychopharmacology, even within Western medicine, that's hidden behind what's published and patentable.
And yes, there are some very dark chapters of human experimentation without knowledge or consent.
Daniel Probst
Patienceltd