A concise self‐administered questionnaire is described which elicits responses to 40 symptoms usually attributed to psychotropic drugs. The relationship of such symptoms to age, sex, and education leoels in a group of newly admitted psychiatrie outpatients is examined. The symptoms most frequently reported correlate significantly with a standardized self‐rating system form (KDS), suggesting that certain pretreatment symptoms may be somatic concomitants of the patient's illness. It is proposed that the determination of pretreatment incidence of all somatic and psychological symptoms that may be attributed to the administration of drugs is a necessary step in conducting clinical drug trials.