title: The dimensional approach to clinical psychopharmacology: a polysemous concept.
abstract: The last decade has seen significant progress in the development and specific clinical application of selective psychotropes. The dimensional approach to clinical psychopharmacology views the behavioral targets of psychotropes as phenomena existing on a continuum and as components, in varying degrees, of most psychopathologies. The modern concept of dimension has been used in different contexts. In psychology it has a mathematical sense, whereas in biological psychiatry it is associated more with biological function. This paper reviews these two concepts and the recent models attempting to merge them into one. The heuristic value of the dimensional approach, as well as some of its pitfalls and new avenues of research, are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Département de Psychiatrie, Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baruch
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Filteau
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Bouchard
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pourcher
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vincent
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jouvent
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001689:Biological Psychiatry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011600:Psychopharmacology; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs