THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HALLUCINOGENIC RESEAR CH IN PSYCHIATRY - HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS

Research in experimental psychosis has a long tradition extending thro ugh several stages. With the world wide abuse of psychoactive substanc es it came to an abrupt end. Systematic questions within this framewor k of research are still unresolved, and research on newly developed co mpounds is almost completely lacking. A review of the pharmacological and psychological effects of various psychoactive agents is provided, and results of recent experimental studies on arylalkanamines are disc ussed. It is argued that from a systematic as well as from a methodolo gical viewpoint the traditional approach of experimental psychosis rep resents a valuable tool in psychiatric research.