Another being developed to treat anxiety is essentially Valium without the drowsiness. And perhaps the only drug in the works for autism is a product of pure serendipity. At a time when scientific breakthroughs are promising to revolutionize medicine, progress in the treatment of mental illness still comes in small, hard-won steps. The biological underpinnings of diseases like depression and obsessive compulsive disorder remain murky.
Many medications come with severe side effects.
And finding the right drug for the right patient can be a monthslong exercise in trial and error. One of the earliest drugs to treat depression was discovered in a hospital ward for tuberculosis patients, Paulfreyman said. A doctor noticed that the patients' moods improved during treatment. Following a hunch, he tested the drug on healthy patients and found that they, too, became happier. The first effective antidepressant, iproniazide, was developed as a result of the tuberculosis discovery.