Until several decades ago, few studies were conducted on the differences among individual responses to pharmacologic agents. Then, in the 1950s and 1960s, enzyme induction was discovered, and it became apparent that the intake of certain foods or drugs could adaptively modify drug metabolism and, therefore, drug response. Now researchers are beginning to realize how both adaptive and genetic forces may cause pharmacological distinctions among human populations once separated by distance or geographical boundaries.

Psychopharmacology and Psychobiology of Ethnicity provides a unique overview of how ethnically defined populations respond to psychoactive drugs. Its renowned contributors review and summarize our current knowledge of ethnic differences and similarities among patients in response to psychotropic drugs.