Psychiatric drug research has limited effectiveness because it relies on symptom-scale trials and biological reductionism that miss the subjective, context-dependent nature of medication effects. A proposed methodology, First-Person Psychopharmacology (1PPP), combines the rigor of randomized controlled trials with qualitative, idiographic methods to study how psychoactive substances alter consciousness, emotion, and behavior in real-life contexts, focusing on personal meaning, social situation, and narrative frameworks. Using a mixed design with multiple experimental groups, interviews, and interpretative and quantitative analyses, 1PPP aims to provide a more ecologically valid and person-centered alternative. Putting the psyche back into psychopharmacology is essential for advancing a humanistic and scientifically robust understanding of psychiatric medications.
Dancing is a universal human behavior with likely ancient origins. This study investigated genetic associations with dancing aptitude, propensity, and need. Genotyping of 85 performing dancers, their parents, 91 competitive athletes, and 872 nondancers/nonathletes from 414 families revealed highly significant differences in AVPR1a haplotype frequencies between dancers and athletes, and between dancers and nondancers/nonathletes, especially when considering SLC6A4 polymorphisms. Dancers scored higher on the Tellegen Absorption Scale and the Reward Dependence factor of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. The authors propose that the association between AVPR1a and SLC6A4 reflects the social communication, courtship, and spiritual facets of dancing rather than sensorimotor integration.