Pmg. Neuro-Pswhophamncol. Vo1.3, pp.133-136, 1979. Pergamon Press Ltd. Printed in Great Britain

TIEi FUTURE ROLE OF COlWMUNICATIONS IN PsYCHoPHARMA COLOGICAL RESEARCH AND PRACl’IcE

E.F.B. FORSTER

Department of Psychiatry, University of Ghana Medical School Accra, Ghana

Contents

Abstract 1. Introduction 2. Information 3. Present position 4. Future role 5. The role of the International Reference Centre for

Information on Psychotropic Drugs

1.

2.

3.

Abstract

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Communication of psychopharmacologic data is seen as a system whose structure should be determined by efficient information dissemination. Suggestions are made to improve the efficiency. The author suggests ways to improve information accessibility for auxiliary medical personnel, medical personnel and for basic researchers. The International Reference Centre for Information on Psychotropic Drugs is discussed with reference to a weakness in its function and corrective suggestions.

Key words: communications, psychopharmacology, research practice, WHO reference centre

1. Introduction

The mechanism of communication implies that there is information to be passed on to others and the structure of the system depends on the mode of transmission that will be effective in achieving the goal intended.

The essence of couununication about psychopharmacology in the future is that it should be clear in language, precise in meaning and easy to comprehend. It should incorporate a feed- back system, and.never be unidirectional.

2. Information

The sources of the information we are dealing with in psychopharmacology are research and practice in the field. Workers in this area should possess clarity of mind, sufficient expertise and an abundant capacity to transmit their information with meaningful precision to others. The intricacies of psychological medicine are inrmense and the tools we now possess to investigate the mysteries of the mind are imprecise. When this state of affairs is com- pounded by the study of the effects of drugs on the psyche, it is clear that our task becomes

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more challenging and our information controversial. The effects of drugs have been known to vary in different members of the human species. The source of information on any particular drug should therefore have a very wide base, cover many grouping5 of the human species and be correlated so that a meaningful abstraction could be made of its usefulness to mankind as a whole. We would expect this information to cover various parameters of drug usage, research results and side effects, all in one package.

The manner or system of collecting and storing this information will materially affect the ease of retrieval and the speed with which it could be disseminated. The interest value of the information should be kept in view at all times. A computer organization may serve this purpose admirably but when we consider that our prospective view of communication is that information should be available to a wide clientele to be useful, then the computer system

would limit the achievement of our goal because it would tend to serve a very small client group. Owing to the expense involved in setting up such a system and the constraints on priority expenditure in a large part of the world today, some other system has to be found to serve our purpose: that our information would reach the general medical practitioners, post and undergraduate students in psychopharmacology, in forms suitable for easy assimila- tion. Efforts should also be made to reach other workers at the grass roots of mental health services. It is only by such proselytization that the gospel of psychopharmacology could hope to spread far and wide.

One of the pitfalls of restricted communication is that it limits the distribution of information on psychopharmacological data. This may lead to insular inbreeding and limit the in-depth appreciation of the values of this special branch of pharmacology by researchers as well as practitioners in the field.

3. Present Position

At the present time the regular forms of couununicating information on psychopharmacology are dependent on the grade of the recipient in the study of the subject. Didactic instruc- tions are the usual forms for undergraduate medical students and also for students of pharm- acy . Research students who are usually in the post-graduate grade have a lot of practical work added to their lecture progrannnes. In addition to these forms of communication of infor- mation we have available specialized journals that deal with the subject. There are also closed shop seminars and other group meetings at which specialized information is passed on and discussed. But these kinds of communications are limiting in scope and miss out a very large number of workers who should be informed on the subject if we are to increase the number of mental health workers with a desirable working knowledge in psychopharmacology.

The WHO Reference Centres Network for information on psychotropic drugs has introduced a new dimension to the communications system in its many collaborating centres in different parts of the world. This new system, too, is deficient in some ways. It does not inform on a wide spectrum of psychotropic drug activity. It limits the area of information and in some parts of the world, its impact is circumscribed because it is directed to a few workers in the mental health field.

The future communications system envisaged is one that would have a much wider base with a capacity to reach many more workers in our field than we now do.

4. Future Role

The aim of cormnunications in psychopharmacology in the future should be to make a strong and lasting impact on the mental health Scene and convert and retain new adherents to the fold. The aim should be a kind of crusade to enlighten all involved in medical care and the delivery of services as to the positive and negative aspects of psychopharmacology.

The problem as I see it, is how could we achieve this? If it is agreed that information on psychopharmacological research and practice is to permeate through to specialists, post- graduate students, general practitioners, undergraduate medical students and paramedical staff, then we have to identify suitable media via which the information should be transmitted

Cozzuunications in psychopharmacology 135

and also the most agreeable form it should take.

A widely based educational programme is called for, to instruct in the art of appreciating the value of the information received and its practical application. This approach conf inns the place of the didactic approach. To make assimilation easier at the various levels of instruction it should be possible to utilize video-tapes. There should be seminars presented in a form suitable for the participants.

International conferences in various parts of the world at different times would incite interest in participation and attract converts, especially when it is borne in mind that some participants who may be interested in the subject may not be able to travel distances to meet- ings due to financial constraints. Efforts in this direction already taken up by the Colleg- ium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicurn (CINP) should be extended away from well known established centres and toward new medical schools. This arrangement would be particularly valuable to third world countries.

Journals in psychopharmacology have a useful place in the dissemination of information. This information should be presented in such a way that its interest value would be far reaching and attract a wide reading public. Some of these publications should be in very simple language bearing in mind the grade or the expertise of the reader. This calls for a central organization to correlate and reduce the information received to various levels of comprehension before dispatching it to the various target groups in as many languages as possible. No doubt this exercise would involve a large secretariat and a high expenditure of funds. If the goal set is achieved by these means then the expenditure would have been worthwhile.

5. The Role of the International Reference Centre for Information of Psychotropic Drugs

The need for a central body to coordinate the work on the study of psychopharmacological research and practice has been felt for some time. This feeling no doubt prompted the World Health Organisation to create the Reference Centre Network for Information on Psychotropic drugs with its twenty-five collaborating reference centres in many parts of the world. The functions of this Network in the area of communication are dealt with more thoroughly by other writers on this theme. My intention in referring to it at all is to highlight the short- comings of the present operational format and to offer some modest suggestions for its more comprehensive usefulness. It is unfortunate that this area of psychopharmacological research and practice has been separated into two groups without an apparent and functioning link between them. The division which merely notifies of drug areas under active research seems to function quite apart from the other division which deals with the side effects of these drugs. Our future communications should therefore endeavour to relate these two important functions in such a way that one is simultaneously informed not only of drugs under experimen- tation or research, but also of the possible side effects and dangers inherent in their use. The general theme of this paper has tried-to stress the wide range of classes of workers in the field of mental health, who in my opinion should have access to these several pieces of information. For this purpose it should be considered mandatory that in the future the central body of WHO under whose auspices this novel approach to psychotropic drug study has been undertaken, should have a single correlation of all relevant information on the subject, for dissemination down the pyramidal hierarchy. The present compartmentalization limits effective utilization of all the valuable information being gathered from research and prac- tice in this field.

The world body should reappraise the structures it has created to deal with this problem and see whether it could not be feasible to marry into one nuptial bliss, lovers who are just waiting for a respected father figure to bring them together. The children of such a power- ful union would have a sound infrastructure on which to erect a superstructure that would be a credit to all associated with it.

This is my view of the future role of communications in the field of psychopharmacological research and practice. Because nothing is static, provisions should be made for changes in the system. These will be dictated by the growth of the prograzzne and the changes in the

136 E. F. B. Forster

circumstances of mankind for whose welfare this exercise is all about.

Inquiries and reprint requests should be addressed to:

Dr. E.F.B. Forster Department of Psychiatry University of Ghana Medical School P.O. Box 4236, Accra, Ghana