PSYCHIATRY AND MENTAL-RETARDATION - TOWARDS A BEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGICAL CONCEPT

The rediscovery of psychiatric disorders in mentally retarded subjects has revealed the inadequacy of existing diagnostic and classification systems. The major reason for the limitations of the latter is that s uch systems have not been developed for application in subjects with s ubstantial intellectual handicaps or other brain dysfunctions. Further more, the impact of the different aetiological brain factors is more o r less neglected, and so are the specific interrelations between brain dysfunctions and psychiatric symptoms. For a better understanding of the behavioural disorders in mentally retarded subjects, the data from primate studies should be taken into consideration, especially where these suggest a relationship between developmental factors and brain d ysfunction. Finally, a functional approach is advocated, linking biolo gical and psychological dysfunctions, that could eventually lead to a so-called functional psychopharmacology.