[Psychotherapeutic effects of psychotropic drugs: principle considerations from the psychobiologic viewpoint]

The paper presents, from a psychobiological perspective, a critical and pragmatic discussion on fundamental questions related to the psychotherapeutic effects of psychopharmacological drugs. A series of definitions of the terms "psychopharmacological drugs", "cerebrotropic" and "psychotropic", "psychoactive and psychotherapeutic effects" and psychobiological" are initially given and set within a psychobiological framework of reference. The purpose of this is to reduce inherent contradictions of conventional definitions and to prove the heuristic value of the new concept. The epistemological basis of the presented reasoning is the psycho-physical identity theory that is based on the theories of systems and biological evolution. The author further discusses questions on the neurobiological and psychotherapeutical effects of psychopharmacological drugs, their locus and mechanism of action and other aspects related to the theme. Finally, the problem is raised as to how to separate from each other the multidimensional therapeutic factors, which alltogether result in the final psychotherapeutic effect of the drugs. Among these therapeutic factors, the so-called placebo is of prominent importance; the author presents a definition of placebo that fit the conceptual framework of the paper.