Psychometry in Early Psychopharmacology

Abstract

As psychotropic drugs, by definition, alter psychological functioning, it is important to know the range and the intensity of these effects. Yet psychotropic drugs are classified according to the abnormal psychological function that they affect — antidepressant, antipsychotic, antianxiety, etc. — and this compartmentalization of psychoactive compounds has led to a relative neglect of their other actions. This would not matter if the generality of psychotropic drugs were highly specific therapeutically, that is, if they ameliorated the target symptoms and did very little else. However, as we are all made aware of each day in our clinics, psychotropic agents, by and large, are unselective agents and our patients complain of a wide variety of side effects, both peripheral and central. In addition, drugs are now being sought to affect impaired psychological functioning rather than abnormal (in the qualitative sense) functioning. The best current example is the development of remedies for dementia.