The first antipsychotic was a surgical drug
Chlorpromazine came out of research into surgical shock. Its first psychiatric dose was given on 19 January 1952, by clinicians who were not testing any theory of psychosis.
We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: Two corrections to the popular version are carried here deliberately. The first psychiatric dose was given at Val-de-Grace by Hamon, Paraire and Velluz on 19 January 1952; Delay and Deniker began at Sainte-Anne on 24 March 1952 and are correctly credited with establishing chlorpromazine as an antipsychotic, not with the first dose. The synthesis date is NOT stated on this row: Ban 2007 gives 11 December 1951 and popular accounts give December 1950, and only the Ban date is confirmed from a peer-reviewed source we could read, so the row says nothing rather than picking one. Delay and Deniker's original 1952 papers are not in Crossref and have no DOI; their dates rest on Ban 2007.
The first antipsychotic drug was not designed for psychiatry. Chlorpromazine came out of French surgical research, and its first psychiatric dose was given on 19 January 1952.
Significant findings
Henri Laborit was a military surgeon looking for a way to stop surgical shock. He was testing compounds that damped the body's stress response - what he called artificial hibernation. He noticed patients became calm and indifferent without losing consciousness.
19 January 1952. Val-de-Grace military hospital, Paris.
The patient was a severely agitated 24-year-old man, given 50 mg by vein by Hamon, Paraire and Velluz. Two months later Delay and Deniker began the work at Sainte-Anne that established the drug as an antipsychotic.
Nobody involved was testing a theory of psychosis. They were watching what happened, and following it.
Worth asking
This is history, not advice, and it is no reason to doubt a medication that is helping you. Never stop an antipsychotic on your own: any change belongs in a prescriber conversation with a plan agreed first.
The next stop is the gap that followed. The drug worked for eleven years before anyone could explain how.
Source
Fifty years chlorpromazine: a historical perspective — Ban TA (2007)
Read the source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2655089/
How this was scored
- Study design
- not recorded
- Funding
- not recorded
- Published in
- not recorded
- Sample size
- not recorded
- Preregistered
- not recorded
- Conflicts disclosed
- not recorded
- Independent of proponent
- not recorded
- Retracted
- No
We have not finished checking this source, so there is no scoring to show yet. “We have not checked this yet” and “this is disputed” are different statements, so no scored band is shown rather than a low one.
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Published August 31, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "not yet assessed". We have not finished checking this source. No judgement either way. One caveat travels with that badge: Two corrections to the popular version are carried here deliberately. The first psychiatric dose was given at Val-de-Grace by Hamon, Paraire and Velluz on 19 January 1952; Delay and Deniker began at Sainte-Anne on 24 March 1952 and are correctly credited with establishing chlorpromazine as an antipsychotic, not with the first dose. The synthesis date is NOT stated on this row: Ban 2007 gives 11 December 1951 and popular accounts give December 1950, and only the Ban date is confirmed from a peer-reviewed source we could read, so the row says nothing rather than picking one. Delay and Deniker's original 1952 papers are not in Crossref and have no DOI; their dates rest on Ban 2007. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Fifty years chlorpromazine: a historical perspective — Ban TA (2007). The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.