Ethical Implications of
Cosmetic Psychopharmacology

Christopher Altman
Pierre Laclede Honors College

 

We have reached the point where modern day pharmacology has become a sort of alchemy for the mind. The behavioral transformations made attainable by newly discovered psychotropics raise complex ethical and sociological questions, with no clear-cut answers to be found. In the decades to come, we will see a paradigm shift in the way we view the self, the mind, and the chemistry of mental disorders.

In Listening to Prozac, Dr. Peter Kramer claims that the capacity of modern medicine –to allow a person to experience, on a stable and continuous basis, the feelings of someone with a  different temperament and history is among the most extraordinary accomplishments of modern medicine.” Yet this accomplishment extends far beyond the range of its immediate effects. The ability to externally induce changes in the functioning of the mind raises sensitive philosophical questions pertaining to the •mind-bodyê separation. This boundary is now drawn much closer together than has been traditionally perceived.

The ability to alter temperament chemically further raises the question of licit drug use as contrasted with illicit drug abuse. With a pill to make one quicker of thought, more fluent, and more mentally adept, what are the criteria for prognosis and treatment? Our current models of psychological classification are societally defined and arbitrary. Prozac, the most prescribed pharmaceutical on the market, is being viewed by some as a sort of mental steroid, and some workers in high demand, high pressure positions are using it to become more assertive in the workplace. With increasingly rapid advancements in neuroscience and psychopharmacology, Prozac is but a crude prototype of the psychotropics of the future. It will be seen as primitive in comparison to new compounds that will be radically more effective in targeting behavioural attributes.

Psychotropic drugs are not new to society – the difference lies only in the degree that these substances change the traits for which they are intended. Caffeine and nicotine are two of the most popular mental stimulants in the world today, but do we question the use of coffee to make one more mentally adept and alert? The excitement over Prozac is partially due to the novelty of a new compound that alters the functioning of the human mind. The accompanying insecurity it brings is due to its defiance of our societally-accepted definition of mind. The ethics of using these 'cosmetic' compounds should be established now, because the drugs of the future will be much more specific and potent in targeting behaviors. Prozac is but a shadow of what is soon to come.