Selective drugs versus heterogeneous diagnoses towards a new methodology in psychopharmacologic research

ABSTRACT

In this presentation the history of modern neuropsychopharmacology was reviewed with special reference to the impasse in pharmaco-therapeutic progress. It was postulated that a methodology for the delineation of the therapeutic profile of psychotropic drugs and identification of the treatment responsive form(s) of illness is an essential prerequisite for progress in the pharmacotherapy of mental illness. It is reasonable to assume that the information generated by the methodology will provide the necessary orientation points for devoloping therapeutically more effective and clinically more selective psychotropic drugs. It should also open up the possility to complement the current capability of tailoring grugs to receptor profiles with the capability of tailoring drugs to the different forms and suborms of mental illness