The role of race and ethnicity in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment has received increased attention over the last 2 decades. In addition, recent studies conducted to determine the effects of psychotropic drugs among various racial and ethnic groups highlight the importance of considering race and ethnicity during psychopharmacologic interventions.

Information regarding differences in drug metabolism, effectiveness, and incidence of adverse effects provides opportunities for psychiatrists to adjust pharmacologic treatment to achieve optimal treatment outcomes while minimizing intolerable side effects. These differences have been explained by inconsistencies in access, stigma, fear of medicines, differing spiritual and cultural beliefs about mental illness, and general mistrust of the healthcare system by many racial and ethnic groups.

The articles in this supplement offer a significant contribution to the scientific foundation needed to minimize the patient and clinician factors contributing to the current disparities in mental health care. Recent data, such as those presented in this supplement, describe the role of ethnicity in the pharmacologic treatment of psychiatric disorders and offer hope for improved quality of care for ethnically diverse patient populations. The authors discuss differences in drug metabolism, the impact of these differences on development of various metabolic disorders, and how these differences may be useful in managing intolerable side effects and improving patient compliance and treatment outcome. The information included in these articles should assure that clinical decision making and prescribing practices include sensitivity to safety, tolerability, and dosing for an increasingly ethnically diverse population.