Recent advances in the drug treatment of the functional psychoses.

Little is known about the primary cause of mental illness but in a major area of psychiatry effective secondary prevention has been developed. Potent psychopharmacological agents have become available to the clinical psychiatrist and it has been shown that the prognosis in the psychoses can be significantly improved when continuous drug treatment is prescribed. As treatment has to be given for years the psychiatric clinic has become committed to a potentially large group of patients whose mental wellbeing is dependent upon regular psychotropic medication.