Drug therapy and psychobiological research advances in the psychoses in the past decade.

There have been major advances in the treatment of psychoses in the past decade, particularly in the area of maintenance therapy with lithium, tricyclics, and neuroleptics. Such efforts have been enhanced by methods of relating plasma drug levels to clinical efficacy. Research in genetic factors, the mode of action of pharmacological agents, and hormonal influences on psychopathology has added to our theoretical understanding of the psychoses, and we can hope for further advances from sophisticated new methodological tools. Promising areas of investigation include the search for genetic markers, studies of postsynaptic neuronal receptors, and examination of the effects of polypeptides, including endogenous opioid compounds.