Svein G. Dahl – författare

The Fourth International Meeting on Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry was held in Bethesda, Maryland on 5-8 September 1985 and was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Earl Usdin. Earl was one of the organizers of the three previous meetings held in Chicago (1979), Troms0 (1980), and Odense (1982). During the organization of the fourth meeting Earl became ill and had to relinquish his role as one of the principal organizers. It is safe to conclude that there was no better, or more professional, or more efficient an organizer of scientific meetings in the field of neuropharmacology and psychiatry than Earl U sdin, and it was quite a task for the remaining organizers to fill the void left when he withdrew from this one. Those of us who have organized previous meetings with Earl were struck by how much more difficult our work became without him. This obviously speaks well for his subtle (and at times not so subtle) organizational skills. Nevertheless, in Earl's memory the organizers proceeded to invite a group of internationally renowned neuropsychopharmacologists to address the problem of selectivity in psychotropic drug action and to try to reconcile the amazing advances in basic preclinical neuropsychopharmacology with the problem of clinical specificity encountered by the psychiatrist.

This volume collects the invited lectures and some selected contributions presented at the 5th International Meeting on Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry, which was held 26-30 June 1988 at the University of Troms0, Norway. The 24 h of daylight at the northernmost university in the world al­ lowed for long, pleasant and productive sessions. The title of the conference as well as a number of the topics covered represent a continuation of four previous conferences, the first held in Chicago in 1979 and organized by the late Earl U sdin and colleagues. The earlier conferences have been documented in Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry, edited by E. Usdin (Elsevier, New York, 1981), Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry. Neuroleptic and Antidepressant Research, edited by E. Usdin, S. G. Dahl, L. F. Gram and o. Lingjrerde (Macmillan Publishers Ltd., London, 1981), Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry. Bridging the Experimental-Therapeutic Gap, edited by LF. Gram, E. Usdin, S.G. Dahl, P. Kragh-Sorensen, P. L. Morselli and F. Sjoqvist (Macmillan Publishers Ltd., London, 1983), and Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry. Selectivity in Psychotropic Drug Action - Promises or Problems? edited by S. G. Dahl, L.F. Gram, S.M. Paul and W.Z. Potter (Psychopharmacology Series 3, Springer, Heidelberg, 1987).