[Psychic drugs: predicting therapeutic effects and doses by test models with normal subjects (author's transl)].
Pharmacopsychology is concerned with the effects of drugs on "psychic" processes. It is attempted to demonstrate approaches which meet the criteria of scientific methodology. These approaches are based upon observation of somatic and/or behavioral changes. The steps from "naive" observation to the generation of objective data consist mainly of strict control of the observational situation and of technical refinement of the observation methods. Two kinds of pharmacopsychological models in healthy volunteers are described: models of normal and models of abnormal behaviour. Their relevance for the prediction of therapeutic drug effects and dosage is discussed. Possible new approaches are demonstrated: a) utilization of feedback form clinical investigation to control the relevance of pharmacopsychological models and, b) the concept of symptomatic volunteers, who are shown to be more suitable models than non-selected subjects.
[Psychic drugs: predicting therapeutic effects and doses by test models with normal subjects (author's transl)]. Pharmacopsychology is concerned with the effects of drugs on "psychic" processes. It is attempted to demonstrate approaches which meet the criteria of scientific methodology. These approaches are based upon observation of somatic and/or behavioral changes. The steps from "naive" observation to the generation of objective data consist mainly of strict control of the observational situation and of technical refinement of the observation methods. Two kinds of pharmacopsychological models in healthy volunteers are described: models of normal and models of abnormal behaviour. Their relevance for the prediction of therapeutic drug effects and dosage is discussed. Possible new approaches are demonstrated: a) utilization of feedback form clinical investigation to control the relevance of pharmacopsychological models and, b) the concept of symptomatic volunteers, who are shown to be more suitable models than non-selected subjects.