[Attitude of medical students to treatment with psychotropic drugs. 1: Comparison between medical students and the general population].

The attitudes of medical students towards psychotropic drugs are compared with those of the general public. Students strike a more positive balance between the costs and benefits of this treatment method. Whereas there are no marked differences as concerns desirable effects both groups differ considerably in the assessment of the limitations and risk of undesirable side-effects with students being less sceptical in this respect. Also with regard to other attitudinal domains student's judgement is more favourable. However, this does not mean that there is not a remarkably large group which articulates reservations against the use of psychotropic drugs. Whereas the majority of the lay public considers psychotherapy in general as superior to psychopharmacotherapy most students tend to differentiate between the various forms of psychiatric disorder.