bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Search for Genetic Linkage in Schizophrenia
Authors: Watt David C.
Published: August 2008

Enormous industry has been devoted during the last half-century to establishing the genetic contribution to the aetiology of schizophrenia. Demonstration of a familial concentration of the disorder among the blood relatives of schizophrenics is supported by the differential concordance for schizophrenia found between monozygotic and dizygotic twins (Slater and Cowie, 1971; Gottesman and Shields, 1972; Shields, 1978). An alternative explanation offered was that the high familial incidence of schizophrenia was accounted for by the influence of a schizophrenic parent, particularly mother, or a sibling, or by a schizophrenogenic family configuration or pattern of communication. This speculation has been dispelled, however, by the brilliant series of studies which compared the outcome in the offspring of schizophrenics brought up at home with that of those adopted and brought up away from the schizophrenic parent (Heston and Denney, 1968; Ketyet al, 1968; Rosenthal, 1970; Rosenthalet al, 1971; Wenderet al1971; Kety and Matthyse, 1972; Wenderet al, 1974).
British Phenomenological and Psychopathological Concepts: A Comparative Review
Authors: Berner Peter , Küfferle Bernd
Published: August 2008

For a foreign observer who has been trained in German and French psychopathology, British psychiatry is very attractive at first glance for a number of reasons. Its eclectic and principally non-theoretical approach (Cooper, 1975), characterized by an open acceptance of foreign concepts and by the tendency to question traditional structures and hypotheses and to test them by means of statistical methods, appears most impressive. The substantial contribution British authors have made toward the development of structured tools in psychopathology, like for instance the Present State Examination or the Hamilton Rating Scale in order to facilitate such a statistical evaluation, which reflects clearly the inheritance of Sir Francis Galton, is also a cause of sincere admiration. The European observer realizes furthermore that the British approach is rooted mainly in continental, especially in German, clinical psychiatry, and is not as heavily influenced by psychodynamic theories as, for instance, the American schools were, at least until recently. This provides him with a comfortable feeling of familiarity and he is not inclined to question certain British tenets until his involvement progresses and he becomes aware of the comparative lack of attention paid by British schools to some of the fundamentals of continental psychopathology.
HLA Antigens in Schizophrenia: No Difference Between Patients with and Without Evidence of Brain Atrophy
Authors: Frangos Elias , Renieri-Livieratou Nitsa , Athanassenas George , Stavropoulou-Ghioka Ekaterini , Kourkoubas Antony
Published: August 2008

The HLA antigens distribution was studied in 56 chronic schizophrenic in-patients with or without brain atrophy determined by CAT examination, and compared with that of 200 controls. There was no difference in the incidence of HLA-A2 in the whole sample, and an increase in those without brain atrophy (by comparison with normal controls) failed to reach statistical significance. A decrease of Bw35 in the whole sample, more prominent in those without brain atrophy, again failed to be significant after multiplying the probability by the number of antigens studied.
Cold Injury Caused by Psychiatric Illness: Six Case Reports
Authors: Dalton Joy , Robertson Mary
Published: August 2008

Six patients are reported in whom mental illness led to severe cold injury. The main contributory factors were cold surroundings, inactivity and neglect. The additional factor of impaired microcirculation in these patients may also be significant.

In the winter of 1979 two instances of cold injury in patients with mental illness came to our attention. A search of the medical records at the Whittington Hospital revealed a further three cases over a period of 14 years. One patient was seen at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square.
Pain and Depression
Authors: Pilowsky I. , Bassett D. L.
Published: August 2008

This paper explores the relationship between depression and chronic intractable pain in which somatic pathology is playing a minor role. In this study, 114 patients with chronic pain were compared with 53 patients with depression. Patients with chronic pain were older, more likely to be married, more frequently attributed difficulties in activity and sleep to pain, and reported greater impairment of motor functions. They had less dysphoria and an illness behaviour profile (on the Illness Behaviour Questionnaire) suggestive of a conversion reaction. Depressed patients recalled more life events in the year prior to presentation, whilst pain patients recalled more events of nine and ten years earlier. It is concluded that the two patient groups cannot be considered identical. It is argued that the concept of abnormal illness behaviour helps to distinguish the two groups.
A Psychiatric Study of Amputees
Authors: Shukla G. D. , Sahu S. C. , Tripathi R. P. , Gupta D. K.
Published: August 2008

Psychiatric manifestations were studied in 72 amputees in the post-operative period. All were right handed. Besides phantom limb phenomena, which were observed in nearly four-fifths of the cases and are described in another paper, nearly two-thirds had psychiatric symptoms in the form of depression (45 patients), anxiety (38), crying spells (38), insomnia (34), loss of appetite (23), suicidal ideas (21) and psychotic behaviour (2). Right arm amputees had phantom phenomena and insomnia significantly more often than left.

Nearly one-fifth of the cases were diagnosed as having psychotic depressive reactions, two-fifths as having depressive neurosis and two, both with right upper limb amputations, as schizophrenic.
Evaluation of a Modified Self-Report Measure of Social Adjustment
Authors: Cooper Peter , Osborn Madeline , Gath Dennis , Feggetter Graeme
Published: August 2008

A self-report Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-M) for use in British populations was devised by modifying the original North American version, and its usefulness was evaluated among 331 women drawn from two local populations. In a group of mothers of one year old babies (n = 130), high levels of agreement were found between the subjects' self-ratings on the SAS-M and (i) a psychiatrist's ratings of their social adjustment made at interview; (ii) ratings of the subjects' social adjustment made by their husbands on the SAS-M; (iii) measures of concurrent mental state. In a group of women undergoing elective sterilization (n = 201), the SAS-M was found to be sensitive to changes in mental state over time. Possible applications of the SAS-M in psychiatric research, particularly when an interview is not feasible, are discussed.
Social Origins of Depression in Old Age
Authors: Murphy Elaine
Published: August 2008

In a comparison between elderly depressed subjects and normal elderly people in the general population, an association was found between severe life events, major social difficulties, poor physical health and the onset of depression. Working class subjects within the general population had a higher incidence of depression and this appeared to be explained by their poorer health and greater social difficulties. Those elderly people who lacked a confiding relationship were more vulnerable to depression. Evidence is presented that the lack of a confidant was a reflection of life-long personality traits.
Vegetative Symptoms in Anxiety and Depression
Authors: Mathew Roy J. , Swihart Andrew A. , Weinman Maxine L.
Published: August 2008

The incidence of vegetative symptoms was found to be higher in 61 medication-free patients with anxiety compared to an equal number of age and sex-matched normal controls. Multiple regression analysis identified depression, as rated by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), as the most highly predictive factor associated with these symptoms. Twenty-two anxious patients who obtained scores less than 5 on BDI (absent or minimal depression) were compared with an equal number of age and sex-matched patients with depression. The depressed patients reported a higher incidence of sleep disturbances, weight loss and appetite loss.
Child Stealing and Pseudocyesis
Authors: d'Orbán P. T.
Published: August 2008

Describing the occurrence of pseudocyesis and its treatment in a 15-year-old girl, Hardwick and Fitzpatrick (1981) pose the question whether there is any association between pseudocyesis and child stealing. They comment that such an association has not so far been reported. However, cases of presumed pseudocyesis have previously been noted among child stealers (d'Orbán, 1972; 1976; 1981) (based on patients' accounts which could not be verified) and three characteristic offence patterns were described:
Women in Psychiatry
Authors: Ward Audrey W. M.
Published: August 2008

Of the 1863 women who first gained a registrable qualification from a UK medical school during 1949 to 1951 (early cohort) and in 1965 (late cohort) and believed to be living on 1st October 1977, 74 per cent responded to a postal questionnaire. It was found that 9 per cent of these were not in current practice, and of the remainder, 9 per cent (111) were practising psychiatry. Their participation in medicine was as high or higher than their contemporaries in other branches of medicine. A higher but non-significant proportion (57 per cent) had achieved career posts than other practitioners (54 per cent). Psychiatry was the tenth (early) and sixth (late) most popular choice of specialty on graduation. Psychiatrists resembled other hospital practitioners but not non-hospital practitioners in citing interest, liking, or aptitude as their reason for choosing their current specialty. Of the practising psychiatrists, 37 per cent held the diploma of membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists; these were engaged in more sessions per week and more often held career posts than the remainder.
Scull's Dilemma
Authors: Jones Kathleen
Published: August 2008

Few psychiatrists now take a lively interest in the social sciences, and few social scientists listen to what psychiatrists have to say. For the handful who do, the widening gap between the two fields of knowledge is regrettable, for we have much to learn from each other. The gap seems to have grown for two reasons: psychiatrists, increasingly occupied with pharmacotherapy, have drawn closer to general medicine, and there is comparatively little interest in the social therapies which seemed to offer so much promise back in the 1950s. The open-door system was a success, and so was the idea of community care, even if the practice left much to be desired. Incidentally, these developments destroyed many of the interesting experiments in group dynamics which were at one time a feature of mental hospital life. Social workers, once seen as allies, went off on their own in the new, powerful and largely incomprehensible Social Services Departments, where they had many other tasks to occupy them. Sociologists became shrill and hostile. Many psychiatrists ceased to read sociology after the publication of Goffman's Asylums (Goffman, 1961) because it seemed that sociology was off on some kind of egotrip which was deeply antithetical to their own professional experience. People who talked about “madness” instead of “mental illness”, rejected diagnosis as labelling, and regarded mental patients as victims of a capitalist plot were (and are) difficult to talk to. One of the distinguishing features of mental health reform over the past 200 years has been its apolitical nature—people of all political views could agree on what seemed essentially a matter of common humanity. Suddenly it became highly politicized, both in theoretical terms, since the new analysis was basically neo-Marxist, and in the action of pressure groups in the Civil Liberties lobby. Confused by the Right to Treatment, the Right to Refuse Treatment, the Right to Information and the Right to Confidentiality, most psychiatrists have (wisely in the circumstances) kept their heads down and got on with the job.
Schizophrenia with Depression: Causal or Coexistent?
Authors: Ndetei David M. , Singh Amarjit
Published: August 2008

Fifty-one schizophrenic patients diagnosed using the New Haven Schizophrenic Index and 29 other patients who did not score enough on this index for a diagnosis of schizophrenia were studied for depressive symptoms using the Present State Examination. There was no significant difference in the frequency of depressive symptoms in the two groups.
Psychological Effects, Compliance, and Response to Long-Term Lithium
Authors: Müller-Oerlinghausen B.
Published: August 2008

The most relevant psychological and neuropsychophysiological effects induced by lithium in healthy volunteers or in patients during the free interval are changes of vigilance and possible changes in patients' personality. In EEG terms lithium acts as a “chopper” and induces left-hemispheric asymmetry. Interesting concepts for description of personality changes are the typus melancholicus of Tellenbach and the psychoanalytical view of depression. Effects in an individual patient are heterogeneous and cannot be predicted. Primary and secondary psychological effects may influence compliance, and a detailed analysis of compliance seems necessary.
Use of Renal Enzymes to Evaluate Nephrotoxicity in Lithium Treated Patients
Authors: Garvey Michael J. , Tuason V. B. , Blomquist Charles H. , Hwang Sutaeg
Published: August 2008

N-acetyl-β-glucosaminadase (NAG) is a renal enzyme which is an early, sensitive and reliable indicator of renal damage. NAG assays of midstream spot urines were not significantly different in a group of controls when compared to patients starting lithium for the first time, or to a group of patients who had been taking lithium for more than one year. However, a small number of lithium-treated patients may have evidence of renal damage, identifiable by NAG assay.
Puerperal Mental Illness: Comparisons with Non-Puerperal Controls
Authors: Katona Cornelius L. E.
Published: August 2008

A sample of patients with puerperal mental illness requiring hospital admission were diagnosed retrospectively according to the criteria of DSM III. Comparisons were made with controls matched for diagnosis on a number of features of past history, symptoms, management and outcome. Puerperal illness was associated with more frequent puerperal and less frequent non-puerperal previous admissions, more frequent delusions and greater use of ECT.
The Evolution of Symptoms in Institutionalized Hebephrenic/Catatonic Schizophrenics
Authors: Pfohl Bruce , Winokur George
Published: August 2008

The charts of 52 hebephrenic/catatonic schizophrenics requiring long-term institutionalization were selected from the Iowa 500 study and reviewed. The presence or absence of 28 different symptoms was noted on a year by year basis over a span of 35 years. Symptoms usually classified as positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations and delusions, were found to have earlier onset and greater tendency to resolve over time than symptoms usually classified as negative such as flat affect, decreased social interaction and sensorium defects.
Comparison of Unilateral and Bilateral ECT: Evidence for Selective Memory Impairment
Authors: Fromm-Auch Delee
Published: August 2008

Review of studies from the past 16 years employing quantitative measurement of memory functions before and after ECT revealed the following trends: impairment of non-verbal memory functions after less than five unilateral non-dominant ECTs; improvement of non-verbal memory functions after five or more unilateral non-dominant ECTs; no change or improvement of verbal memory functions with unilateral non-dominant ECT; consistent impairment of verbal functions with unilateral dominant ECT, and impairment of both verbal and nonverbal functions with bilateral ECT. The relative lack of impairment in memory functions with unilateral non-dominant ECT is consistent with the theory of asymmetrical hemispheric disorganization in affective disorders, and supports the choice of unilateral non-dominant ECT over bilateral or unilateral dominant ECT in the treatment of depression.
Electroconvulsive Therapy and Complaints of Memory Dysfunction: A Prospective Three-Year Follow-up Study
Authors: Squire Larry R. , Slater Pamela C.
Published: August 2008

Self-reports of memory problems have been evaluated prospectively in depressed patients receiving bilateral ECT or unilateral ECT, and in depressed patients receiving treatments other than ECT. Depressed patients did not complain of poor memory at seven months after hospitalization. Compared to bilateral ECT, right unilateral ECT was associated with only mild memory complaints. At three years after treatment approximately one-half of the persons who had received bilateral ECT reported poor memory. These reports seemed to be influenced by three factors: (1) recurrence or persistence of conditions that were present before ECT; (2) the experience of amnesia initially associated with ECT and a subsequent tendency to question if memory had ever recovered; and (3) impaired memory for events that had occurred up to six months before treatment and up to about two months afterwards.
Suggestibility, Intelligence, Memory Recall and Personality: An Experimental Study
Authors: Gudjonsson Gisli H.
Published: August 2008

A new suggestibility test, potentially useful in the context of police interrogation, was administered to 45 subjects who also completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Suggestibility was significantly related to low intelligence, poor memory recall, neuroticism and social desirability.
An Inverse Correlation between Spontaneous Eye-Blink Rate and Platelet Monoamine Oxidase Activity
Authors: Karson Craig N. , Kleinman Joel E. , Berman Karen Faith , Phelps Bruce H. , Wise C. D. , DeLisi Lynn E. , Jeste Dilip V.
Published: August 2008

An inverse correlation between platelet monoamine oxidase activity and spontaneous eye-blink rate, a putative measure of central dopaminergic activity, was found in medication-free chronic schizophrenic patients without tardive dyskinesia (n = 20, rs= -.47, P <.025). A similar correlation was found when patients with tardive dyskinesia were included but was weaker (n = 27, rs= -.35, P <.05). Normal controls and patients with tardive dyskinesia did not demonstrate this relationship. This report confirms a previous finding of a significant platelet monoamine oxidase-blink rate correlation in chronic schizophrenic patients. Insofar as this relationship is mediated by dopamine, it suggests that dopaminergic relations are more readily demonstrated in schizophrenic subjects than normals. Moreover, tardive dyskinesia appears to obscure this dopaminergic relationship.
Father–Son Resemblances in Aggressive and Antisocial Behaviour
Authors: Stewart Mark A. , deBlois C. Susan
Published: August 2008

At a child psychiatry clinic 122 boys were scored on scales of aggressiveness, noncompliance and antisocial behaviour. Their biological fathers were scored on aggressiveness and antisocial behaviour. The fathers' scores were modestly but significantly correlated with those of their sons. The correlations were also computed separately for the 64 boys whose biological fathers were no longer in the home and for the 58 whose fathers had stayed. Father–son resemblances for the latter group were considerably higher than those observed in the whole sample, and for the father-absent group were insignificant.
Epidemic Hysteria in a Zambian School: “The Mysterious Madness of Mwinilunga”
Authors: Dhadphale Manohar , Shaikh S. P.
Published: August 2008

The authors were sent to Mwinilunga from Ndola to investigate what was reported to the local press as ‘mysterious madness'. The condition was actually an outbreak of epidemic hysteria which was triggerred off by a group of girls who were having educational and emotional problems prior to the epidemic.

A change in the administrative policy of rigidly segregating the sexes apparently prepared an emotionally charged background for the rapid spread of the illness. The salient features and management of the epidemic are discussed.
Monitoring Drugs in Hospitals for the Mentally Handicapped
Authors: James David H.
Published: August 2008

The systematic application of guidelines derived from the British National Formulary resulted in a substantial reduction of the amount and frequency of medication used in two hospitals for the mentally handicapped.
Comparison of Research Diagnostic Systems in an Edinburgh Community Sample
Authors: Dean C. , Surtees P. G. , Sashidharan S. P.
Published: August 2008

Four research diagnostic schemes are compared in one community sample. The prevalence of psychiatric disorder ranged from 8.7 per cent (ID-Catego, threshold and definite) through 13.7 per cent (RDC, probable and definite) to 20.3 per cent (Bedford, borderline and definite). The main comparison made is between the PSE/ID/Catego and SADS/RDC systems. Sixty-one per cent of cases are identified as such by both these schemes. There is poor agreement about labelling; only 56 per cent of cases of depression and 16.7 per cent of cases of anxiety are so diagnosed by both systems. A post hoc check list was used to identify Bedford cases; all bar one were found to fulfil RDC and PSE case criteria. The results are compared with those from other centres which have used the same diagnostic criteria in community studies.
The Clinical Description of Forty-Eight Cases of Sexual Fetishism
Authors: Chalkley A. J. , Powell Graham E.
Published: August 2008

This study surveys the discharge register of a large London teaching hospital over 20 years and presents data on its 48 cases of clinical sexual fetishism. An attempt was made to answer two questions: (1) What are the clinical problems these patients present? They have more to do with the perception of fetishes as personally or socially unacceptable than with ‘objective’ restrictions placed on sexual activity. (2) What is the classification used to describe? The data have not enabled any conclusions to be drawn about the existence of particular fetishist syndromes. Certainly, a fifth or more of the sample had fetishes for clothes or rubber or rubber items, or wore or stole a fetish or fetishes; but this information is insufficient to allow one to assume that these patients had something significant in common, and leaves open the question of what more precisely each individual was attracted to.
Canada: Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Authors: Letemendia F. J. J. , Burra P.
Published: August 2008

The medical school at Queen's University offers a 4-year M.D. degree course. Because the majority of graduating students consistently choose family medicine as a career, it was decided that the overall objective of the undergraduate course should be to provide the students with the skills and knowledge required to deal with the psychiatric disorders commonly found in general medical practice. The teaching of psychiatry is limited to the second, third and fourth medical years, and teachers are clinicians rather than nonpractising experts in particular fields related to medicine.
England: University of Manchester
Authors: Goldberg David , Benjamin Sidney , Creed Francis , Maguire Peter
Published: August 2008

Psychiatry is one of six major subjects examined in Finals, the others being medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics and community medicine. One of the main aims of our teaching is to help students to appreciate the importance of psychological factors in the diagnosis and treatment of all illness, and to realise that attention to a patient's psychological adjustment may be important even where physical illness is paramount.
Abnormal Metabolite in Alcoholic Subjects
Authors: Wolf Stewart , Felver Michael E. , Altschule Mark D. , Werthessen Nicholas T. , Gerner Robert , Veech Richard L.
Published: August 2008

2,3-butanediol appears in the blood of some alcoholics following ethanol ingestion. Whether it be a genetic trait or a phenomenon of induction remains to be determined. It may be associated in some way with depression.
Subjective Side-Effects of Amitriptyline and Lithium in Affective Disorders
Authors: Abou-Saleh M. T. , Coppen A.
Published: August 2008

The prevalence of subjective side-effects was studied in 258 control subjects, 65 drug-free depressive in-patients and 94 lithium-treated out-patients. It was shown that drug-free depressives reported more side-effects than both control subjects and lithium-treated patients. Side-effects were studied during amitriptyline therapy. Depressed patients on no medication complained of only slightly fewer side-effects than when they had received amitriptyline. There was a significant positive correlation of Hamilton depression scores and side-effects scores at baseline. Side-effects and affective morbidity over two years were investigated in 94 patients with recurrent affective disorders on long-term lithium therapy. Psychological variables were also investigated in 74 of these patients. Subjective side-effects reported by lithium-treated patients including those specific to lithium were related to their affective morbidity and personality variables. Patients on lithium complained significantly less of headache and unilateral headache than controls.
Life Events Precipitating Mania
Authors: Kennedy Sidney , Thompson Ruth , Stancer Harvey C. , Roy Alec , Persad Emmanuel
Published: August 2008

A study of 20 manic patients, with patient and matched control comparisons, showed a two fold increase in life events during the 4 month period before admission to hospital. Life events, independent of affective illness and having significant objective negative impact (i.e. traumatic) were significantly more common. These findings are considered in relation to social relationships, family history of affective illness and the use of psychotropic medication.
Reducing American Diagnosis of Schizophrenia: Will the DSM III Suffice?
Authors: Mukherjee Sukdeb
Published: August 2008

At the turn of the century Kraepelin brought together the disparate syndromes of hebephrenia, dementia paranoides, and catatonia under the rubric of dementia praecox. At the same time he crystallized the concept of manic-depressive illness as an entity discrete and separate from the former syndrome. In the years since Kraepelin's classification first came to be adopted, the definitions and descriptions of these two major disorders have undergone many changes. In an attempt to comprehend the meaning and the mechanism of the psychoses, Bleuler was drawn by the emergent theories of psychoanalysis to extend Kraepelin's clinical observations into the realm of psychology. He renamed dementia praecox the schizophrenias, thus emphasizing his idea that the splitting of associative processes was a fundamental feature of the syndrome; and he added the subcategory of simple schizophrenia. American psychiatry, dominated until recently by psychoanalytic concepts, has been influenced more by Bleulerian than Kraepelinian contributions. However, it has not restricted itself to Bleulerian notions. As Kety (1980) remarked in his Maudsley Lecture, great liberties have been taken with the syndrome of schizophrenia; the essential features have been altered, primarily by an expansion of its boundaries.
Was Insanity on the Increase?
Authors: Hare Edward
Published: August 2008

At the autumn meeting of the Medico-psychological Association in 1871, Maudsley—that time President of the Association—reada paper entitled 'In Issanity on the Increase?. The question was then one of profound concern both to the British public and to psychiatrists. Not only had there been for years a constant need to build new asylums—a cause ‘of terrible discouragement and complaint with the ratepayers’ (Arlidge, 1859)—but also, as was clearly apparent in the publications of the Poor Law Office and the Annual Reports of the Commissioners in Lunacy, the number of the registered insane was increasing every year, far out of proportion to the increase in the population (see Fig 1). This circum stance, it was said, ‘miwghetll give rise to alarming apprehension of a mental degeneracy’ in the country (Arlidge, 1862).
Failure to Replicate Evoked Potential Observations Suggesting Corpus Callosum Dysfunction in Schizophrenia
Authors: Shagass Charles , Josiassen Richard C. , Roemer Richard A. , Straumanis John J. , Slepner Stephen M.
Published: August 2008

Somatosensory potentials (SEPs) evoked by vibrotactile finger stimulation have been reported to be the same in both hemispheres in schizophrenics, whereas they are asymmetrical in normals, with the contralateral hemisphere leading the ipsilateral (Jones and Miller, 1981). These findings were taken to indicate that the corpus callosum is nonfunctional in schizophrenics. To attempt replication of these results, vibrotactile SEPs of 6 schizophrenics and 6 normal controls were recorded with both bipolar and monopolar derivations. Assymetrical bipolar SEPs were obtained in both schizophrenics and controls; previous observations of schizophrenic-control differences were not replicated. Acceptable evidence of ipsilateral early SEPs was not obtained; the test procedure seems inappropriate for measuring callosal conduction time.
Left Hemisphere's Inability to Sustain Attention over Extended Time Periods in Schizophrenics
Authors: Niwa Shin-ichi , Hiramatsu Ken-ichi , Kameyama Tomomichi , Saitoh Osamu , Itoh Kenji , Utena Hiroshi
Published: August 2008

Each hemisphere's ability to sustain attention over extended time periods was investigated in 14 schizophrenics and 17 controls using dichotic detection tasks. Schizophrenics produced significantly higher rates of omission errors, as compared to that of commission errors. The rates of omission errors for schizophrenics fluctuated markedly, while the rates of commission errors remained fairly constant. Primarily due to the fluctuation of omission errors, the detection index decreased progressively when schizophrenics were engaged in right-ear tasks. These results suggest that schizophrenics demonstrate a deficit concerning ‘response set’, especially in the left hemisphere. It is feasible that there may be a correlation with disturbances in integration mechanisms of both hemispheres in schizophrenics.
Abnormal Dexamethasone Suppression Test in Normal Females
Authors: Hällström Tore , Samuelsson Sverker , Balldin Jan , Wålinder Jan , Bengtsson Calle , Nyström Ernst , Andersch Björn , Lindstedt Göran , Lundberg Per-Arne
Published: August 2008

Eighty women taking part in a population study were subjected to a dexamethasone suppression test (DST) intended as a diagnostic aid for melancholia. The women were selected systematically from two age strata, 38 and 50 years. Fifteen subjects (19 per cent) were found to be non-suppressors. High post-dexamethasone serum Cortisol concentrations were not the result of elevated concentrations of the main Cortisol binder, transcortin. There were no differences between suppressors and non-suppressors as regards depressive symptoms, strain experience, body mass, gynaecological history, drug use, smoking, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, number of leucocytes, activity of serum aminotransferases and γ-glutamyltransferase, serum iron, bilirubin, ferritin content, serum growth hormone or serum prolactin. However, the non-suppressors reported a significantly lower (P <0.01) orgasmic capacity in a questionnaire inquiry about two weeks before the DST. The outcome of the study indicates that DST as the presently recommended procedure for out-patients has a lower specificity for melancholia than has been reported previously.
Verbal Participation and Group Therapy Outcome
Authors: Fielding John M.
Published: August 2008

The relationships between patients speaking out and measured outcome were investigated over 18 months in an out-patient group. The parameters of therapeutic progress were derived from the Symptom Check List and individualized repertory grid rating scales. Each patient's verbal participation was compared to that of other group members and to his own participation over other measurement phases. Speaking out phases were associated with more chance of change and improvement, while silent phases were associated with less chance of change and an increased likelihood of negative change. This study demonstrates the use of a relatively non-disruptive measurement model in testing clinical hypotheses in single psychotherapy groups.
The Psychiatry of Old Age
Authors: Jacoby Robin
Published: August 2008

One may read something about the psychiatry of old age by adhering to the College's reading list, supplementing it with more up to date papers from current journals or selections from the bibliographies and reference lists of reviews and textbooks. It would be profligate of a limited allowance for this article to repeat such lists or even to highlight choices from them. It is arguably as enlightening, perhaps more so, to read around the subject.
Employability of the Mentally Disabled in the 1970s
Authors: Morgan Roger , Gopalaswamy A. K.
Published: August 2008

Of 156 discharged patients, the forty who succeeded in open employment had shown before they left hospital a combination of significantly less clinical disability, less abnormal behaviour, better work performance and better relationships with other people. We specify the approximate levels of these variables that were required to get and hold a job in the 1970s.
Insulin Secretion during the Glucose Tolerance Test in Antisocial Personality
Authors: Virkkunen Matti
Published: August 2008

In 23 young male adults with antisocial personality, mostly guilty of violent crimes, insulin measurements during the glucose tolerance test showed an enhanced insulin secretion only in those with unsocialized aggressive conduct disorder. The hypothesis that in antisocial personality there are at least two aetiologically different groups is supported.
The Place of Psychodynamics in Psychiatry
Authors: Farrell B. A.
Published: August 2008

There is a difference of opinion among psychiatrists in this country about the place of psychodynamics in their subject. They appear to be divided roughly into two groups, the “cons” and the “pros”. This paper considers what the attitude of psychiatrists ought to be to psychodynamics, and it does this by selecting and examining the epistemological standing of one example of psychodynamic work. The example is contained in a book by Dr David Malan, entitled Individual Psychotherapy and the Science of Psychodynamics. The examination of this example brings out in what ways the two groups, the cons and the pros, are both wrong and right; and the way in which, therefore, the current difference of attitude is inappropriate, but understandably connected with the uneasy situation in which psychiatrists find themselves.
Sadistic Fantasy, Sadistic Behaviour and Offending
Authors: MacCulloch M. J. , Snowden P. R. , Wood P. J. W. , Mills H. E.
Published: August 2008

This paper explores the genesis of sadistic behaviour in men and its relationship to crime. Sixteen male special hospital patients, each with a diagnosis of psychopathic disorder, formed the basis of this descriptive study. In only three cases were the crimes explicable in terms of external circumstances and personality traits. The offences of the remaining 13 cases became comprehensible only when the offender's internal circumstances were explored: investigation revealed repetitive sadistic masturbatory fantasies which had spilled over into overt behaviour because the patients had felt impelled to seek and create increasingly dangerousin vivo‘try-outs' of their fantasies. The paper discusses the crucial link between sadistic fantasy and behaviour.
Lithium Levels in White Blood Cells and their Relationship to Observed Side Effects
Authors: Ong Yong Lock
Published: August 2008

A strong correlation was obtained between white blood cell (WBC) lithium concentrations and the severity of observed side effects in a group of 40 patients receiving prophylactic lithium therapy. However, there was no significant correlation between these levels and the specific side effect of hand tremor, although WBC concentrations were higher in patients with greater tremor. These results contrasted with those for plasma and red blood cell (RBC) lithium concentrations, which showed no relationship to side effects. This suggests that WBC lithium concentrations may be a more sensitive index of side effects than conventional plasma estimations.
Plasma Serine to Cysteine Ratio as a Biological Marker for Psychosis
Authors: Waziri Rafiq , Wilson Rick , Sherman Arnold D.
Published: August 2008

In a study of plasma amino acids in psychiatric patients, serine to cysteine (S/C) ratio was higher (S/C = 1.57±0.28) in 57 psychotics compared to 27 nonpsychotics (S/C = 1.06±0.23). This difference was highly significant at P <0.001. Psychotic patients were given a psychosis score (p score) of 1–4, The S/C ratios of individual patients were significantly correlated to their p scores (r = 0.65, P <0.001). S/C ratios were not related to diagnosis, age, sex, food intake and medications. When the initial S/C ratio and p scores of 22 patients were compared to their S/C ratio and p score at the time when they were improved and ready to be discharged, there was a concomitant fall both in S/C ratios and p scores suggesting the high S/C ratios may be indicative of a state rather than a trait characteristic. Our findings lead us to the conclusion that S/C ratios may provide a marker for the presence of psychosis and an index of its severity.
Trace Metals in Neuropsychiatry
Authors: Crammer J. L.
Published: August 2008

Naylor's recent hypothesis that vanadium ‘poisoning’ could be a factor in the severity of manic-depressive illness drew attention to the normal and even essential presence of vanadium in the diet, and in human living tissues. The whole brain may contain only about 45 micrograms of vanadium (Underwood, 1977; 1979), as against 500 micrograms of manganese, 130 μgm selenium, and less than 20 μgm molybdenum—others of the 12 or so essential metals required in traces. We might take copper as the principle trace metal—an important component of over 50 enzymes, including monoamine oxidase and dopamine β-hydroxylase—with a total in the whole man of about 100 mg. In contrast, metals like potassium (140 gm), magnesium (35 gm), iron and zinc (3–4 gm) are not present in traces but in gram quantities. Lithium, present naturally in the body in extremely minute amounts, is raised in therapy to occupy a borderline position in the scale, rather more than copper, less than zinc.
Sir Aubrey Lewis: Inquiries in Psychiatry, The State of Psychiatry, The Later Papers of Sir Aubrey Lewis
Authors: Taylor F. Kräupl
Published: August 2008

In 1966, Sir Aubrey Lewis retired from the Maudsley Hospital. To mark the occasion, the postgraduate students at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals published a selection of his writings, which appeared in 1967. But the flow of papers from his pen continued unabated until his death in 1975. Michael Shepherd was thus enabled to bring out a further volume in 1979, containing some of these later papers'.
Psychotherapy of Sexual Deviation
Authors: Crown Sidney
Published: August 2008

The psychotherapy of sexual deviation involves difficult theoretical, social, moral, ethical and therapeutic issues, as well as the psychotherapist's personal value system. These basic issues must be elaborated.
Behavioural Approaches to the Management of Sexual Deviations
Authors: Hawton Keith
Published: August 2008

The history of treatment approaches used to help individuals troubled by sexual deviation or variation is notable for the way it has reflected the changing attitudes of both society and medicine to such behaviour. In recent years the range of behavioural techniques has broadened considerably with the introduction of, for example, cognitive forms of treatment and a change in emphasis away from the suppression of deviant sexual behaviour and towards the positive development of desired behaviour. In addition, as with behaviour therapy in general, a more flexible approach to management has developed with much greater emphasis on designing treatment on the basis of each individual patient's needs. Furthermore, there has been a marked reduction in the number of requests received for help with deviant sexual interest. This reflects both the changes that are occurring in social attitudes to sexuality in general, and homosexuality in particular, which have reduced the pressures on individuals to abandon their personal styles of sexual behaviour, and the development of self-help groups and minority organisations.
Suppression of Bulimic Symptoms with Methylamphetamine
Authors: Ong Yong Lock , Checkley Stuart A. , Russell G. F. M.
Published: August 2008

Eight patients with bulimia nervosa were given methylamphetamine or placebo intravenously under double blind controlled conditions. In every patient, methylamphetamine reduced self-ratings of hunger and amount of food eaten as measured under laboratory conditions. This shows that the food intake of patients with bulimia nervosa can be modified by experimental drugs. The symptom of bulimia (rapid, excessive and distressing eating) which may be followed by self-induced vomiting or purgation was seen in four patients after receiving placebo but in none after receiving methylamphetamine. These findings suggest that the severe symptom of bulimia may be amenable to drug treatment. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanism by which methylamphetamine appears to prevent bulimia.
Cavernosal Alpha-Blockade: A New Technique for Investigating and Treating Erectile Impotence
Authors: Brindley G. S.
Published: August 2008

Intracavernosal injection of phenoxybenzamine, in a dose too small to have significant general effects, caused full erection lasting between half an hour and 30 hours in 3 of 4 potent men (2 normal, 2 anorgasmic) and in 6 of 11 impotent men. In the remaining potent man and 3 of the remaining impotent it caused the penis to be stiff enough for intromission. Six of the eleven impotent men have had sexual intercourse, for the first time for months or years, while under the drug.

The practical implications of this new discovery are discussed.
Follow-up Study of Schizophrenic Patients Initially Treated with Home Care
Authors: Pai Shaila , Roberts Elizabeth J.
Published: August 2008

A follow-up enquiry was carried out after two years on 54 patients who had earlier participated in a controlled experiment on home-care through a community nurse in Bangalore. Thirty seven of these patients could be contacted, of whom 21 had undergone the experimental care (home care) and 16 were from the control group, which had been treated by hospital admission. It was found that the experimental subjects had maintained a significantly better clinical status than the controls, and had been readmitted less often.
An Algorithmic Method for Management of Mental Health Problems in Developing Countries
Authors: Essex B. , Gosling H.
Published: August 2008

A new problem-oriented cross-cultural method has been developed to identify the appropriate management of mental health problems in primary-care settings. It is designed to be used by multipurpose health workers in out-patient clinics in many developing countries. Presenting mental health problems in many cultural settings can be placed into one or more of eight behaviourly determined categories. After this initial categorization an algorithmic process is used to determine the sequence of observations which must be made in order to identify the appropriate management. The system allows for variations in available resources and local constraints. We outline the design principles of this algorithmic method and the rules for using it, and describe a training programme developed to teach people to adapt it and use it effectively. The evaluation studies that have been done in different developing countries confirm that the method is acceptable and efficient, and gives management decisions with a high degree of repeatability.
Asymmetrical Transfer: An Inherent Weakness of Repeated-Measure Drug Experiments
Authors: Millar Keith
Published: August 2008

When subjects act as their own controls in drug experiments there is a risk of asymmetrical transfer between treatment conditions, with the result that treatment effects are determined largely by order of administration. In such cases the effect of a drug may be reduced or exaggerated, and prior treatment with a drug may affect placebo conditions. Asymmetrical transfer is probably much more common than is generally realized. Suggested causes include inadequate wash-out between treatments, state-dependent learning, adoption of learning strategies, and practice effects. The problem is illustrated by the re-analysis of a paper on the effects of benzhexol on memory, published recently in this journal (Potamianos and Kellet, 1982). The advantages of separate-group experimental design are reconsidered.
Psychopathology of a Drug Experience
Authors: Edwards Griffith
Published: August 2008

A young man aged 23 made contact and asked to talk about an adverse drug reaction. He had been puzzled and frightened by what had happened to him and although he was a very experienced drug-user he had not fully realized that a drug could cause such consequences—he had feared that he was going mad. He came along not as ‘a patient’ but because he believed that he had something to tell which might add to medical insights.
An Experience of Ulcerative Colitis
Authors: Shoenberg Peter
Published: August 2008

Very few patients with ulcerative colitis are likely to be referred or to refer themselves for psychotherapy for their condition. Recently I was asked by a gastro-enterologist to see Caroline, a young woman in her early thirties, who had ulcerative colitis, with a view to her discussing having psychotherapy. This was because she had caused him and a social worker in this hospital to be concerned about her emotional state.
Social Factors and Affective Disorder: An Investigation of Brown and Harris's Model
Authors: Campbell Elizabeth A. , Cope Susan J. , Teasdale John D.
Published: August 2008

The aetiological model proposed by Brown and Harris was examined in a sample of 110 working class women with children in Oxford. Using the same methodology as Brown and Harris, the role of provoking agents in the onset of affective disorder was found to be very similar to that which they originally described. Lack of an intimate relationship with a husband or boyfriend was found to act as a vulnerability factor, increasing the risk of psychiatric disorder in the face of a provoking agent. There was a trend for women with three or more children aged 14 or under to have an increased vulnerability. However, unemployment was not found to be a vulnerability factor. These results provide general support for Brown and Harris's causal model.
Cognitive Dysfunction and Tardive Dyskinesia
Authors: Struve Frederick A. , Willner Allen E.
Published: August 2008

From a prospective study of tardive dyskinesia (TD), psychiatric patients with neuroleptically—induced “persistent” TD were contrasted with controls on a neuropsychological measure of abstracting ability. A significant association is demonstrated between impaired cognitive performance and TD, even when the neuropsychological measure was obtained in advance of TD onset.
High-Dose Neuroleptics: Uncontrolled Clinical Practice Confirms Controlled Clinical Trials
Authors: Bollini Paola , Andreani Amato , Colombo Fabio , Bellantuono Cesario , Beretta Paola , Arduini Anna , Galli Tebaldo , Tognoni Gianni
Published: August 2008

The strategy of high-dose intramuscular haloperidol as routinely applied in a general hospital psychiatric ward to 74 successive patients, 33 of whom stayed only up to seven days, and a further 34 up to 15 days, led to a complete recovery in only six, and complete lack of change in 23. Adverse reactions were recorded in 42, severe enough to stop treatment in eight; there were three deaths. In view of this risk-benefit analysis, systematic application of this high dose strategy to get a more rapid turnover of patients is unjustified.