
Contents
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Current Usage: Five Drug Classes Current Usage: Five Drug Classes
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A New Nomenclature A New Nomenclature
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“Antidepressants”: Monoamine Agonists “Antidepressants”: Monoamine Agonists
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“Antipsychotics”: Dopamine Blockers “Antipsychotics”: Dopamine Blockers
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“Mood Stabilizers”: Second Messenger Modifiers “Mood Stabilizers”: Second Messenger Modifiers
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“Anxiolytics/Hypnotics”: GABAergic Agonists “Anxiolytics/Hypnotics”: GABAergic Agonists
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“Stimulants”: Dopamine Agonists “Stimulants”: Dopamine Agonists
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Conclusions Conclusions
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Selected References Selected References
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1 C1A New Psychopharmacology Nomenclature
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Published:December 2018
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Abstract
An innovative textbook of psychopharmacology would fail if it continued to use false and outdated terminology for drug classes. All these terms began as clinical shorthand in the 1960s for possible clinical effects of an exciting new crop of medications, most of whose mechanisms were unknown. The uneducated guesses of that era have been reified into phrases that patients and clinicians use as if they are true. This chapter provides a new classification system for psychotropic drugs, based on biological mechanisms, that is considered more accurate scientifically and more neutral clinically than the current system based on purported clinical indications. Terms like “antipsychotic” and “antidepressant” are misleading clinically and invalid scientifically, since those agents often are more or less effective than those names imply. A mechanism-based classification is neutral, allowing clinical decisions to be based on clinical research data, not the linguistic implications of drug class terminology.
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