Toward standardized usage of the word serendipity in the historiography of psychopharmacology

Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
Alan A BaumeisterFrancisco López-Muñoz

Abstract

Contradictory views are expressed in the literature about the role played by serendipity in discoveries that led to modern psychopharmacology. This article attempts to resolve these contradictions by providing an operational definition of serendipity. The utility of the proposed definition is explored in the context of 18 discoveries. The results show that the most common pattern in the development of early psychiatric medications is serendipitous observation leading to non-serendipitous demonstration of clinical utility. The analysis also reveals examples of relatively pure serendipitous and non-serendipitous discoveries. The proposed definition appears to be reliable and valid.

References

Oct 1, 1979·Archives of General Psychiatry·D V JesteR J Wyatt
Apr 1, 1970·Psychiatry in Medicine·Z J Lipowski
Jun 1, 1968·Journal of Psychiatric Research·M Schou
Aug 1, 1970·The American Journal of Psychiatry·W K Shull, J D Sapira
Mar 1, 1970·The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry·M H de Groot, B Bardwell
Jan 1, 1983·Journal of Psychoactive Drugs·L H Sternbach
Jan 1, 1984·Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry·T R Norman, G D Burrows
Sep 25, 1998·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·D Healy, M Savage
Feb 7, 2001·BMJ : British Medical Journal·D Healy
Sep 5, 2003·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·Alan A BaumeisterSarah M Uzelac
Jan 1, 1952·Przegla̧d lekarski·J SUPNIEWSKI
Apr 30, 1954·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·N S KLINE
Nov 18, 1955·Science·B B BRODIEP A SHORE
Jan 7, 2006·The Psychiatric Quarterly·Dilip RamchandaniCecilio Alamo
Jan 26, 2006·Annals of Clinical Psychiatry : Official Journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists·Francisco López-MuñozGabriel Rubio
Mar 6, 2008·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·Donald F Klein

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Citations

Sep 26, 2015·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Francisco López-MuñozCecilio Álamo
Oct 5, 2013·Epilepsy & Behavior : E&B·Doru Georg Margineanu
Jun 26, 2012·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·Alan A BaumeisterClaire Advokat
Dec 24, 2019·Language and Speech·Marcel Schlechtweg, Holden Härtl
Sep 21, 2012·Current Opinion in Psychiatry·Eric J Engstrom
Aug 29, 2019·Personality and Mental Health·Emily R PerkinsChristopher J Patrick
Jul 26, 2018·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Francisco López-MuñozCecilio Álamo

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