Neuroscience-Based Nomenclature (NbN): A New Pharmacological Driven Classification of Psychotropics

The contemporary application of psychotropics is based on the growing body of knowledge of their neuroscientific properties. The terminology used to describe these agents is based on the conditions they were first discovered to be useful for. This terminology, which was patched together unofficially over the years, created classes of drugs, e.g., “antipsychotics,” “antidepressants,” and “mood stabilizers,” suggesting a single indication for each group of drugs. The “indication concept” misrepresents each drug’s wide range of applications and often confuses students, doctors, and patients. For example, clinicians often prescribe “antidepressants” for patients with anxiety disorders or “second-generation antipsychotics” for depressed patients who show no evidence of psychosis. Neuroscience-based nomenclature (NbN) is a pharmacologically driven nomenclature that focuses on each drug’s pharmacology and mode of action. NbN aims to reform the current terminology by bridging contemporary neuroscience to psychotropic classification and clinical practice. By creating practical tools (i.e., the NbN app), NbN increases the “toolbox” and may increase prescription precision as it brings about more professional pharmacologic driven concepts and improves communication with patients (i.e., no more: “Why I’m getting antidepressants for my anxiety?”).