[The effects of neuroleptics and social research in psychopharmacology.]

The use of neuroleptic drugs in psychiatry brought with it a wave of iatrogenic diseases and their socio-legal implications. These phenomena remain incompletely examined by the mental health professions. Social practitioners reflect in their professional literature a large ignorance of these problems. The author summarizes recent evidence on therapeutic and toxic effects of neuroleptics. Therapeutic effects are emphasized in the literature, so that toxic effects are still not well known. Ex-trapyramidal syndromes, in particular, remain poorly recognized and are often confused with psychiatric symptoms. The inability or refusal to perceive drug-induced problems from the perspective of the patient prolongs unecessary suffering. The author discusses some professional and political issues in the use of neuroleptics, and the need for a rational reexamination of the justifications for this use. Avenues for intervention as well as applied and fundamental research in social psychopharmacolo-ty are suggested.