Alec James Coppen (29 January 1923 – 15 March 2019) was a British

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

. He was given The Pioneers in Psychopharmacology Award in year 2000 by the Collegium Internationale Neuro Psychopharmacologicum. Coppen was born in London, England in January 1923. He received numerous awards, both in the UK and abroad. After army service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he studied medicine at

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

and at the

Institute of Psychiatry The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways ...

in London. Later he was appointed to the Medical Research Council's Neuropsychiatric Research Unit in Epsom, Surrey, England. He is perhaps best known for the introduction of

Serotonin Serotonin () or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Its biological function is complex and multifaceted, modulating mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes such as vomiting and vas ...

theory of depression. He followed this by pursuing investigations into free and total tryptophan, post-mortem brain studies of depressed suicides and studies into the platelet transport of serotonin. It is fair to state the introduction of SSRI antidepressants is due to these studies. He was very impressed by the early work of

Mogens Schou Mogens Schou (24 November 1918 – 29 September 2005) was a Denmark, Danish psychiatrist whose research into Lithium pharmacology, lithium led to its utilization as a treatment for bipolar disorder. Early years Schou was born in Copenhagen ...

in the use of

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...

in the maintenance treatment of unipolar and bipolar affective disorder, and carried out the first prospective double blind trial, which showed that lithium was very effective in the treatment of both conditions. He worked on

folic acid Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...

in depression from 1970, and consistently found low plasma and red cell folate in patients with severe depression. He also showed that a folic acid supplement improved the prophylactic response to lithium.

Antidepressant drugs Antidepressants are a class of medication used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain conditions, and to help manage addictions. Common side-effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, hea ...

are relatively weak therapeutic agents, only 60% of patients respond to an antidepressant compared with 40% on placebo. Combining

fluoxetine Fluoxetine, sold under the brand names Prozac and Sarafem, among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorde ...

with 0.5 mg of

90% of women patients responded to treatment, an observation that may have massive implications for the treatment of depression.

Personal life

In 1952, Coppen married Gunhild Andersson, who came from Sweden. They had one child Michael, also a doctor. Gunhild died on 26 May 2007, of a sudden illness. He died on 15 March 2019 at the age of 96.Alec Coppen, psychiatrist who investigated the link between serotonin and depression – obituary
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coppen, Alec English psychiatrists 1923 births 2019 deaths Alumni of the University of Bristol British Army personnel of World War II Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) people People educated at Dulwich College