[Ethics of research in psychiatry. Comparison of France and the United States].

This article presents a comparison of research ethics in psychopharmacology in France and the United States. The authors present some elements of definition, etymology and of history. In addition, they study how this very specific research is actually done. Many questions are discussed, including the right of the patient, and the problem of normal volunteers. Other aspects are more technical i.e. remuneration, protocol, and the product. Finally the role of the ethics committees is investigated. These committees comprise the third component of the trial that consists of the research and the subject.