[The role of clinical psychiatry in the development of new drugs].

A survey is given from a clinically working psychiatrist's point of view on principal aspects of the development of new psychotropic drugs. The comparison with the other medical branches shows, that clinico-pharmacological investigations and clinical trials play an important role in the development of new psychotropic drugs. 1. The importance of clinical screenings for the development of new psychotropic drugs is stated by means of a comparative analysis of the pre-clinical and clinical screening methods. In this connection, the importance of animal experiments, biochemical and pharmaco-psychological findings is reported. 2. The particular difficulties of characterizing the effectiveness of potential psychotropic drugs are explained based on the problems of placebo effects, of the unspecific influence on psychotropic drug effects and by means of the socalled "main and side" effects of these drugs. 3. The principles of psychiatric ratings and of data documentation are explained with the aid of different examples.