Together with representatives from ECNP, ACNP, AsCNP, and IUPHAR, a task force was formed to address a longstanding concern within the neuropsychopharmacological community that the nomenclature of psychotropic drugs did not properly reflect the underlying neuroscience of these compounds.
The Neuroscience-based Nomenclature (NbN) is a publication and a digital application of psychiatric medications classified by their pharmacology and mode of action. The NbN is updated on a yearly basis, equipping clinician with the latest insights in neuroscience in a way that can be applied in treatment on a daily basis.
The core principles of the NbN are:
- To move from a disease-based classification (e.g antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, sleeping pills, mood stabilizers, etc.) to a pharmacology driven classification in order to shift from symptoms to mechanisms, from disease to pharmacology.
- To open the gate to contemporary neuroscience insights and to incorporate recent findings in brain research to the classification of drugs that are used to treat psychiatric disorders.
- To replace 60 years old nomenclature of psychotropics with updated neuroscience-based nomenclature (NbN).
- To provide an important teaching tool that presents the depths and richness of the neuroscience fabric of psychotropics.
