A few facts from the history of selected biological treatment methods in psychiatry

Biological treatment of mental disorders has obviously strong links to psychopharmacology. It is no wonder that the greatest expectations for progress in the treatment of mental conditions are focused on new drugs or molecules that share interesting properties of pharmacological mechanisms of action. However, nowadays the development of non-pharmacological options, including transcranial magnetic stimulation or vagus nerve stimulation, indicates the need for more efficacious and better tolerated treatment modalities. Before the age of modern psychopharmacology, which began in the 1950s, treatment of mental disorders was rather limited to only a few methods that had proved to be of some efficacy. In the absence of other, more efficacious treatment methods, these therapies-such as insulin coma or atropine coma-brought at least some relief to those who suffered from serious mental disorders. Obviously, at present we are aware that these therapies should be considered far less efficient than modern psychotropic drugs; however, at the time when these methods were used, no other efficient treatment methods were available.