Measurement of Subjective Responses: Quantitative Effects of Drugs

Abstract

This book is an expansion in depth as well as in length of a review on the measurement of pain published in<i>Pharmacological Reviews</i>several years ago. In the present volume, Dr. Beecher has explored the difficult and complex field of measurement of subjective responses and has produced an interesting and provocative book. He has revised the section on methods for the evaluation of pain and discusses the characterization and measurement of such phenomena as mental clouding, sedation, euphoria, dysphoria, nausea, hunger, anxiety, itching, and the subjective and objective components of cough. A discussion of placebo reactors, psychotomimetic drugs, and the quantitative effects of anesthetic substances on subjective state is also included. Since the author is a pioneer in the field of measurement of subjective response, it is not surprising that much of the work reviewed is either from his laboratory or from the laboratories of investigators who were trained