ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Good Medication or Evil Intoxicant? – Discussing Psychopharmaceuticals in British Newspapers, 1960-1980

• In Event: Trust, Distrust, Faith and Disbelief

English Abstract

The establishment of chlorpromazine in psychiatric treatment is widely understood as the be-ginning of modern psychopharmacology. During the 1950s and the 1960s, the development of the first neuroleptics, antidepressants, and tranquilisers characterized the pharmaceutical indus¬try and transformed the classification and the treatment of mental disorders. On the one hand, psychopharmaceuticals were seen as helpful medication and on the other hand as harmful and dangerous intoxicants.
In my talk, I want to focus on the presentation and discussion of psychopharmaceuticals in British Newspapers between the 1960s and the 1980s. Especially tranquilisers like the benzo-diazepine Valium of the Swiss company Roche were present in various articles. The articles reflect the paradox public character of such substances between something good and something bad. Who was discussing psychopharmaceuticals in British newspaper articles? How were such substances presented and interpreted in the newspapers? What can we learn about the public understanding of tranquilisers by analysing their appearance in newspaper articles? During my talk, I want to answer these questions, studying key examples of different British newspapers. In addition, I will compare the public characterisation of psychopharmaceuticals with the mar¬keting of the pharmaceutical industry. In doing so, not only the paradox character of psycho-pharmaceuticals will be analysed, but also the clash of perspectives interpreting these substances.

Author

• Paulina S. Gennermann, University of Marburg