CHAPTER 4 - Challenges for Translational Psychopharmacology Research: The Need for Conceptual Principles

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This chapter explores the challenges for translational psychopharmacology research and discusses the need for conceptual principles to overcome these challenges. In the nascent phase of psychopharmacology, one of the research goals was to construct behavioral profiles of prototypic drugs mainly in laboratory animals and to identify in these profiles features that can be translated to clinical applications. These concerns range from drug responses that characterize individuals as being particularly vulnerable or resilient for disorders of varying psychiatric diagnoses to identifying compounds that are promising as pharmacotherapies. The chapter presents that the link between preclinical and clinical studies in psychopharmacology is intensified by continuously emerging methodological innovations that seek to enhance the translational value of experimental models. In the course of the first six decades of psychopharmacological research, experimental models prevailed and were refined that successfully contributed to the study of neurobiological mechanisms and medication development. The current discussion of principles that govern translational research in psychopharmacology emphasizes the importance of a sound conceptual basis for selecting core symptoms of psychiatric disorders when constructing and refining experimental models.

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