Psychiatric Disorders/Timeline in Psychiatry

The Ebers papyrus, one of the most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt, briefly mentioned clinical depression.

Hippocrates theorized that physiological abnormalities may be the root of mental disorders.

Greek physician and philosopher Herophilus studies the nervous system and distinguishes between sensory nerves and motor nerves.

Greek anatomist Erasistratus studies the brain and distinguishes between the cerebrum and cerebellum.

The first psychiatric hospital was built in Baghdad.

Persian physician Avicenna recognized 'physiological psychology' in the treatment of illnesses involving emotions, and developed a system for associating changes in the pulse rate with inner feelings.

Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, one of the famous old psychiatric hospitals, was set up.

Scholastic philosopher Rudolph Goclenius used the term psychology. Though often regarded as the "origin" of the term, there is conclusive evidence that it was used at least six decades earlier by Marko Maruliæ.

Louis XIV of France created a public system of hospitals for those suffering from mental disorders.

In English physician Thomas Willis' anatomical treatise "De Anima Brutorum", Psychology was described in terms of Brain Function.

English physician William Battie wrote the Treatise on Madness which called for treatments to be utilized in asylums.

Dr. Johann Christian Reil, German physician, anatomist, physiologist and psychiatrist, coined the term 'Psychiatry'.

French physician Dr. Rene Laennec invented the Stethoscope.

The element of Lithium was first isolated from Lithium Oxide and described by William Thomas Brande, an English chemist.

Dr. Emil Kraeplin defined "Dementia Praecox", currently Schizophrenia.

German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered medical use of X- rays in medical imaging and was conferred the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Dr. Sigmund Freud published 'The interpretation of dreams'.

Dr. Alois Alzheimer, German psychiatrist and neuropathologist, identified the first case of what later became known as Alzheimer's disease.

Austrian biologist and physician, Dr. Karl Landsteiner discovered the existence of different human blood types and in 1930, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

French Psychologists Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon created the Binet-Simon scale to assess intellectual ability, marking the start for standardized psychological testing.

Dr. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician, published his first Conditioning studies.

The word schizophrenia was coined by Dr. Paul Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist.

Dr. Hans Berger, German neuropsychiatrist, discovered human electroencephalography.

Dr. Manfred Joshua Sakel, Polish neurophysiologist and psychiatrist, introduced insulin shock therapy; a precursor to ECT.

Otto Loewi, Austrian-German-American pharmacologist, won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Medicine, which he shared with Sir Henry Dale, for his discovery of Acetylcholine, the first neurotransmitter to be described.

Dr.Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist and Dr. Lucio Bini, Italian psychiatrist, discovered Electroconvulsive Therapy.

Lithium carbonate's ability to stabilize mood highs and lows in bipolar disorder was demonstrated.

Dr. Antonio Egaz Moniz, neurologist at the Lisbon Medical School won Nobel prize for his work on psychosurgery / lobotomy.

The first published clinical trial of Chlorpromazine was conducted at Ste. Anne Hôspital in Paris.

The APA published the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders.

The first benzodiazepine, Librium, was introduced, marking the rise of psychopharmacology.

United States president John F. Kennedy introduced legislation delegating the National Institute of Mental Health to administer Community Mental Health Centers for those being discharged from state psychiatric hospitals.

FDA approved Lithium for acute mania.

Psychologist David Rosenhan published the Rosenhan experiment, a study challenging the validity of psychiatric diagnoses.

The ICD-9 was published by the WHO.

The first selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant, 'Prozac', was released and quickly became most prescribed.

US President George Bush declared 1990s as "The decade of the brain".

The No Free Lunch organization was founded by Dr. Bob Goodman, an internist from New York.