The cutting edge in psychiatry.

The authors sampled the views of 138 "experts" in psychiatry in relation to three questions: 1) What were the major accomplishments of 1970-1980? 2) What were the important publications of the decade? 3) What important questions will be answerable in the next decade? Advances in basic sciences and in psychopharmacology led the list for the past decade. Fourteen publications were mentioned four or more times; DSM-III headed the list. The experts predicted that we can anticipate advances in understanding the causes and in the treatment of major disorders. Despite methodological constraints, these results have implications for training medical students and house staff, for continuing education, and for the allocation of research resources.