The present review of psychomotor response to psychotropic substances is restricted to normal subjects and describes responses to the initial standard dose of psychotropic substances in common use. Only placebo-controlled studies which permitted statistical analysis of treatment group differences were considered for the summary. It was revealed that virtually all psychotropic substances have immediate detracting effects. The nature of the effects varied somewhat according to the class of drug. It is suggested that this kind of information has safety implications which could-influence the choice of medication.