Serotonin neuroscience discoveries usher in a new era of novel drug therapies for psychiatry.

Serotonin basic neuroscience discoveries are evolving at a very fast pace and are leading to innovations in clinical psychiatry and in drug development. Numerous novel pharmacological tools, each selective for a given serotonin receptor subtype, are being applied to several psychiatric disorders. The strategy employed is theory driven and hypothesis oriented, aiming for new drug development that selectively targets receptors that are rational sites for therapeutic actions. Thus, serotonin uptake inhibitors are targeting not only depression, but also obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Serotonin1A agonists are targeting not only depression and anxiety, but also mixed anxiety depression. These and other agents selective for additional receptors are being tested in impulse control disorders; eating disorders; addictive disorders; and aggressive, violent, self-destructive, and suicidal behaviors. Serotonin research is an excellent example of how basic science discoveries in the 1990's "Decade of the Brain" are resulting in important advances in therapeutics for psychiatry.