Historical trends in the conceptual domains underlying articles published in psychiatric journals are indicators of major psychiatric concerns and practices. Articles in The American Journal of Psychiatry and The British Journal of Psychiatry during the periods 1947–51, 1967–71 and 2002–6 were classified into either a biomedical, psychological or social conceptual domain to determine which domains, if any, were dominant.

In The American Journal of Psychiatry one or two domains were dominant for two of the three periods. No domain was dominant in The British Journal of Psychiatry.

Examined against various scientific and social developments, American psychiatry appears more responsive to current social, scientific and commercial trends and impulses than British psychiatry.

The aim of the study was to elicit clients' satisfaction with the methadone maintenance service and their views regarding opiate users not in the service. A self-completion questionnaire with 40 questions covering various aspects of service delivery was given to clients on this programme.

Of a total of 52 questionnaires, 31 (60%) were returned. There was a high level of overall satisfaction (93%) with the service and staff, but there were significant problems related to prolonged waiting times and access to ancillary services. There were also practical difficulties related to prescriptions. Over half of the clients (54%) used additional illicit opiates.

It is likely that addressing identified problem areas may influence treatment outcome in this challenging group. Staff should maintain optimism in helping the clients who, as seen by this survey, value their advice.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to investigate the safety of rooms used by medical staff to interview patients in out-patient and in-patient settings of a mental health trust. An assessment tool was designed, and examined the features of an interview room that were likely to promote safety.

The survey included 112 rooms and demonstrated shortcomings that compromised interview room safety. Rooms were frequently overcrowded with furniture (n=30), cluttered with loose objects (n=101, 90%) and used for multiple purposes (n=82, 73%). Room layout often compromised either access to alarm systems (n=51, 46%) or exit from rooms (n=99, 88%). Necessary facilities for summoning assistance were found to be lacking.

The safety of interview rooms has not been emphasised sufficiently within everyday working practice and should be revisited.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been reported in 90% of chemical warfare victims in previous studies. An individual's traumatic experience(s) may affect the lives of other family members as well. This cross-sectional case–control study compared the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in the husbands, the secondary PTSD symptoms in the wives and also aimed to identify if there was an association between the PTSD symptoms of the couples in the case group. Cases were 150 husband–wife couples where husbands were civilians exposed to chemical warfare; the controls were 156 husband–wife couples where there was no such exposure. Both cases and controls were recruited from Sardasht in Iran; this Kurdish city was attacked by four 250 kg sulphur mustard warheads in June 1987.

Across three sets of cut-off points for the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD symptomotology (<120 and ⩾121; <106 and ⩾107; and <65, 65–130 and > 130) wives in the case group demonstrated higher rates of PTSD symptoms than did those in the control group; the difference was statistically significant. Furthermore, husbands in the case group had a significantly higher overall mean score (123.0 (s.d. = 17.2)) than the husbands in the control group (112.3 (s.d. = 21.7); P<0.001, t = 4.80). There was no statistically significant association between the overall PTSD score of the husbands in the case group with that of their wives (P = 0.274, correlation coefficient 0.092).

Husbands who were exposed to the chemical agents reported higher PTSD symptoms and there were higher rates of PTSD symptoms among the wives of individuals who were exposed to chemical warfare. Study results suggest the need for coordinated treatments, policy efforts and interventions to improve the wellbeing of chemical warfare victims and their caregiver wives.

To use a questionnaire to assess and compare what referred children and their referrers would like from a multi-disciplinary post-abuse service based in Bridgend, South Wales.

It was found that the children and their referrers wanted different types of support and help from the service. Specifically, children wanted to be ‘listened to’ on an individual basis and to talk about the effect of their distressing experiences on their lives, but they did not want to talk about the details of the abuse and did not want to be blamed. Referrers wanted more practical help for the children.

The study highlights the need to listen to what the child wants from a post-abuse service rather than assuming that this is already known by the referrer or the therapist. It will also help referrers to think clearly about reasons for referral.

To identify psychiatrists' concerns relating to the use of legislation in children and young people with mental health problems. Four hundred and eighty members of the child and adolescent faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists were asked to list their main concerns.

Two hundred and fifty-eight members responded. The four most reported themes were: choosing between the Mental Health Act and the Children Act; general issues around consent to treatment; issues with social services departments; and the stigma associated with using the Mental Health Act.

The range of themes identified from this survey have served to focus the evaluation of the use of the Children Act and the Mental Health Act in Children and Adolescents in Psychiatric Settings (CAMHA-CAPS), and informed the design of subsequent data collection tools. The project report has now been submitted to the Department of Health for consideration.

The aim of the paper is to describe the pre-registration house officer training in psychiatry available in Sheffield. The report is the result of a postal questionnaire, involving all of those who undertook pre-registration house officer training in psychiatry, since the inception of this option.

The results suggest that the psychiatry option as part of pre-registration house officer training was regarded as useful by almost all undertaking this training. Some of the suggestions to improve the experience are already incorporated into the current posts.

The findings support the development of further posts of this type, and such developments may assist in overcoming some of the difficulties in recruitment into psychiatry as a career.

To describe the implementation of a plan to use a validated outcome measure in the care and treatment of people with severe mental illness within a district general hospital psychiatric service. Multiple techniques were necessary to promote actual change of practice.

A survey of practice found 77% of full Care Programme Approach patients to have recorded Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) scores in their care plans one year after the beginning of the implementation plan.

It is possible to incorporate the use of HoNOS in to everyday practice but it takes a lot of time, effort and resources. Mental health services may require a clearer indication from the NHS Executive regarding the use of such outcome scales before committing themselves.