The Madness Pill: The Quest to Create Insanity and One Doctor's Discovery That Transformed Psychiatry

An illuminating history of the life and work of an unheralded genius: Dr. Solomon Snyder, whose experiments with mind-altering drugs helped change the way we think about the causes and treatments of schizophrenia.

In the 1850s doctors began examining brain cells under microscopes to try and find the root cause of madness. A disease that long has been held to have multiple causes and cures, "madness" has stymied doctors for centuries. A breakthrough occurred in 1976, when Dr. Solomon Snyder published groundbreaking research showing that schizophrenia comes from having too much of a chemical called dopamine in the brain. A wunderkind who started medical school at 19, by 35 Snyder had discovered the brain's opiate receptor, which helped birth the modern science of drug addiction. Using the same technology, he also discovered the dopamine receptor, and proved that traditional antipsychotic drugs work by disabling dopamine neurons. Snyder's dopamine hypothesis inspired a generation of researchers to part ways with psychoanalysis and look for the biological basis of schizophrenia and other mental disorders.

Using first-hand research and interviews, The Madness Pill presents a provocative and insightful portrait of a remarkable scientist-one who hoped that by knowing what causes schizophrenia, doctors could make a better drug, one that would reverse the symptoms of the illness with no side effects. Snyder's discovery and research on the dopamine receptor would become the cornerstone of the contemporary science of the mind and the brain, turning psychiatry into a respected science.