
Psychiatric Drugs
05/03/22 • 40 min
3 Listeners
*WARNING this episode includes adult themes and conversations about mental health and drug use.*
In 2020, the UK government revealed that 17% of the adult population of Britain were prescribed medication for their mental health. But when were these drugs invented? How were they tested? And how have they become, in some cases, ‘mother’s little helper’?
From antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications to stimulants and mood stabilisers - Dr David Healy takes us on a journey through the development and use of psychiatric - or psychotropic - medication, and how this development has in turn affected our diagnoses.
David is a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, and is a professor of Psychiatry at McMaster University in Canada.
Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Aidan Lonergan.
Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.
This episode includes music by Epidemic Sound and archive clips from Zoloft commercial 2001.
*WARNING this episode includes adult themes and conversations about mental health and drug use.*
In 2020, the UK government revealed that 17% of the adult population of Britain were prescribed medication for their mental health. But when were these drugs invented? How were they tested? And how have they become, in some cases, ‘mother’s little helper’?
From antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications to stimulants and mood stabilisers - Dr David Healy takes us on a journey through the development and use of psychiatric - or psychotropic - medication, and how this development has in turn affected our diagnoses.
David is a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, and is a professor of Psychiatry at McMaster University in Canada.
Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Aidan Lonergan.
Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.
This episode includes music by Epidemic Sound and archive clips from Zoloft commercial 2001.
Previous Episode

Shoes
I’m something that you wear, I always come in twos, I get put on your feet. I’m not socks, I am ... SHOES.
Humans have been protecting their feet for a very long time.
But over the years the types of footwear we choose have developed and multiplied. Each new shoe has a new use, and often a new social meaning.
So what is the history of shoes? To find out about the masculine beginnings of heels, the reclamation of crocs, and the political ideals of docs, Kate chats to Elizabeth Semmelhack, creative director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.
Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Thomas Ntinas.
If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.
Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.
This podcast includes music by Epidemic Sounds and archive clips from The Wizard of Oz, 1939.
Next Episode

Tudor Sex
WARNING: This episode includes adult themes and explicit words.
Why did Henry VIII want everyone to know about his wet dreams? What animal product were condoms made from? And was coffee really ruining the sex lives of wives?
Suzannah Lipscomb from our sister podcast, Not Just the Tudors, joins Kate Betwixt the Sheets to talk all things sex in the 16th century.
Find out whether sex back then really was just to reproduce, the ‘discovery’ of the clitoris, and the truth about royal syphilis.
Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Seyi Adaobi.
Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.
This podcast includes music from Epidemic Sounds and an archive clip from The Private Life of Henry VIII, 1933.
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