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Article: Drugs that treat mental illness.
- Article from:
- Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication
- Article date:
- January 1, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Weekly Reader Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Before the late 1950s and early 1960s, many people with mental illnesses were kept in locked institutions, away from society. Some of these mental health facilities were huge, sometimes housing 3,000 people. No longer is this true. So what has happened in the meantime to change all that?
A major development has been the discovery of psychotropic drugs that can help people who have mental illness to be able to live in the real world. An antidepressant drug called imipramine (Tofranil), for example, was found to help control the symptoms of depression. An antipsychotic drug called chlropromazine (Thorazine) was found to help control the symptoms associated ...