Comparison of Psychological Effects of Certain Centrally Acting Drugs in Man

A number of recent studies have emphasized that the psychological effects of a given drug are not entirely a function of the drug's more classic "pharmacological properties." On the contrary, as pointed out by Lasagna et al., "the nature of the subject and the situation in which a drug is administered are important determinants of drug effects."1The point of view which Lasagna has presented is supported by the results of Hill et al.2and of Kornetsky.3These investigators have demonstrated that an informal, friendly attitude by the experimenter toward the subject affects the analgesic effect of morphine, and that reaction time is not decreased when subjects are motivated by electric shock.4Von Felsinger et al.5have concluded that those subjects who respond atypically to one drug are likely to respond atypically to other drugs. The present studies have been designed to obtain further data