# How did the invention of antipsychotics change the rates of mental hospitalizations

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-invention-of-antipsychotics-change-the-rates-of-mental-hospitalizations/325848>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 12, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-invention-of-antipsychotics-change-the-rates-of-mental-hospitalizations/325848 "2005-10-12T04:25:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-invention-of-antipsychotics-change-the-rates-of-mental-hospitalizations/325848/1 "2005-10-12T04:25:28Z")

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I have heard that once thorazine was discovered and started getting used the rates of people in mental hospitals dropped dramatically. Does anyone have any statistics on this?

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-invention-of-antipsychotics-change-the-rates-of-mental-hospitalizations/325848/2 "2005-10-12T04:35:28Z")

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I think you’ll find many of the statistics you’re looking for in the first few pages of [this PDF file](http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~raphael/raphael2000.pdf#search='rates%20of%20mental%20hospital').

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**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-invention-of-antipsychotics-change-the-rates-of-mental-hospitalizations/325848/3 "2005-10-12T06:55:38Z")

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> [@KarlGauss](#):
>
> I think you’ll find many of the statistics you’re looking for in the first few pages of [this PDF file](http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~raphael/raphael2000.pdf#search='rates%20of%20mental%20hospital').

There is considerable debate about just how much ‘modern’ anti-psychotics (Thorazine/Chlorpromazine etc) were responsible for deinstitutionalization and how much of it was a social movement. There is no doubt that the symptom relief provided by the drugs was a factor in people leaving hospital but it is at least arguable that a considerable cause of people leaving hospital was the changing social attitudes about incarceration. An example would be the deinstitutionalization of people with Mental Retardation (learning disability/difficulty or mental handicap) in industrialized countries that happened at the same period 1950-1970.