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Methodology of the Evaluation of Psychotropic Drugs pp 3–25Cite as

Evaluating Antidepressants and Anxiolytics

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Part of the book series: Psychopharmacology Series ((PSYCHOPHARM,volume 8))

Abstract

During recent years, many experimental compounds have entered the clinical research arena. The hope has been to find effective anxiolytics and antidepressants, with clinical efficacy at least as great as such standards as diazepam for anxiety and imipramine or amitriptyline for depression, but at the same time with a milder adverse event profile. For anxiolytics, this would translate primarily into producing less sedation and no dependency-producing properties, and for antidepressants primarily an absence or reduction of anticholinergic properties, excessive sedation, orthostatic hypertension, and cardiac toxicity.

The preparation of this paper was supported in part by USPHS Research Grant MH08957.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychopharmacology Research and Treatment Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    K. Rickels

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  1. K. Rickels
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatrische Klinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Straße 8, 6500, Mainz, Germany

    Wolfgang Maier

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, 203 Piersol Building, University Hospital, 3400 Spruce Street, 19104-4283, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Karl Rickels M.D.

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Rickels, K. (1990). Evaluating Antidepressants and Anxiolytics. In: Benkert, O., Maier, W., Rickels, K. (eds) Methodology of the Evaluation of Psychotropic Drugs. Psychopharmacology Series, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75370-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75370-1_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-75372-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-75370-1

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