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When psychotropic Medications were first introduced in the late 1950s, primarily for the treatment of schizophrenia and depression, the initial reaction of the psychoanalytic community ranged from skepticism to outright rejection. In general, psychoanalysts considered psychotropic medication to be a “superficial” treatment that addressed symptoms but did not affect the underlying psychic conflicts presumed to be the etiology of psychological illness (Sarwer-Foner 1960). After this initial rejection, however, many analysts recognized that the use of medication could reduce florid symptoms that interfered with the development of analytic process. Thus, at times, medication could be necessary and useful. Nevertheless, most analysts believed that medications were at best a necessary but undesirable adjunctive treatment. If possible, the psychoanalytic situation should be left undisturbed (Ostow 1962). For example, in 1986 Normand and Bluestonewrote the following about the indication for adjunct use of medication in psychoanalysis:
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