Clinical research in neuropsychiatry

Abstract This paper presents the thesis that rapidly developing areas of knowledge in neuroscience will rekindle interest in neuropsychiatry, and increase scientific and clinical interaction between psychiatrists and neurologists in teaching hospitals. A neuropsychiatric clinical research unit at the National Institute of Mental Health is described. Examples of research conducted on the unit illustrate areas of biological science that are likely to increase the interface between psychiatry and neurology. Hopefully, the explosion of knowledge in the basic neurosciences in the last decade will be followed in this decade by clinical research of increasing specificity and sophistication on central nervous system disorders.