Psychometric scales in clinical psychopharmacology trials: the excess of possible clinical symptom profiles

The number of the possible clinical symptom profiles which can be coded by a psychometric scale may play a role in modulating its informativity and sensitivity in clinical psychopharmacology trials. In a first attempt to address this topic, an analysis of the number of dispositions with repetitions which can be generated from different scales has been carried out. Moreover, some possible psychometric strategies to be used for regulating the informativity and sensitivity of a psychometric scale have been delineated. The results of this theoretical study suggested that the analyses of the number of possible clinical symptom profiles should be taken into account when optimizing the suitability of psychometric scales in the field of clinical psychopharmacology. However, further studies are needed to mathematically and empirically validate this hypothesis.