Measuring the Efficacy of Psychotropic Drugs: Clinical Symptoms and Rating Scales

The pathophysiology of anxiety, affective and schizophrenic disorders is not known. Therefore the efficacy of psychotropic drugs cannot be tested by their effect on the pathophysiology of mental disorders. The efficacy of psychotropic drugs in the treatment of acute episodes can only be evidenced by the reduction of indicators of the severity of the target symptomatology in the controlled drug trials.