Plasma prolactin has been estimated in 69 psychiatric in-patients receiving either thioridazine (20–300 mg./day) or chlorpromazine (50–200 mg./day) or other phenothiazines. A homologous radioimmuno-assay was used which depends on an antiserum to human amniotic prolactin. Prolactin levels were significantly increased in these patients compared with control patients, and were dose related. Simultaneous estimation of growth hormone revealed normal levels.

In the study of palm prints, a human palm is generally divided into five areas: hypothenar, thenar-first-interdigital, second, third and fourth inter-digitals, in each of which various configurations can be observed. These configurations range in form from whorls, loops and vestiges to absence of patterns, i.e. plain structures, called open fields. Whorls are patterns each with two triradii, and loops each with only one triradius. Vestiges, which are local disarrangements of epidermal ridges, vary from resembling a true pattern to approaching an open field.

Current knowledge of the role of autoimmunity in the pathogenesis of the main psychiatric disorders is briefly outlined. The significance of immunological effects on synaptic transmission and associated neuropsychiatric syndromes is emphasised. Clinical psychiatrists are encouraged to keep abreast of developments in this increasingly important area.

Conversion disorder presents a problem for the revisions of DSM–IV and ICD–10, for reasons that are informative about the difficulties of psychiatric classification more generally. Giving up criteria based on psychological aetiology may be a painful sacrifice but it is still the right thing to do.

Home-sickness springs from the conflict between family ties and herd or group feelings, and among immigrants, such as those Austrian and German domestic servants working in London, the nostalgic reaction may lead to certifiable mental disorder. The present study concerns forty cases of this kind who, between 1931 and 1937, came under my care at Friern Hospital.

Mental health provision for diverse refugee populations is faced with a number of challenges, and requires the development and evaluation of flexible service models that maximise capacity and utilise existing non-specialist resources. Emerging therapeutic approaches should be applied in real settings, adapted to cultural needs and integrated with the other agencies involved.

We estimated the incidence of first-episode psychosis over a 3-year period in a Brazilian catchment area comprising the region's main city, Ribeirão Preto (1 425 306 persons-years at risk), and 25 other municipalities with a total of 1 646 556 persons-years at risk. The incidence rates were estimated and adjusted by gender and age, using the direct standardisation method to the world population as reference. The incidence of psychosis was higher in the younger groups, men, and among Black and minority ethnic Brazilians. Psychosis incidence was lower in Ribeirão Preto (16.69/100 000 person-years at risk; 95% CI 15.68–17.70) compared with the average incidence in the remaining municipalities (21.25/100 000 person-years at risk; 95% CI 20.20–22.31), which have lower population density, suggesting a distinct role for urbanicity in the incidence of first-episode psychosis in low- and middle-income countries.

Relatively little is known about female homosexuality, and there are very few published studies which are based on a representative sample of the lesbian population. Many ideas on the subject are mere extrapolations from studies of male homosexuality. The majority of reports are psychoanalytically orientated and in most instances are concerned with very few highlyselected and atypical cases.

Comorbidity can be described broadly as the presence of more than one disorder in a person in a defined period of time (Wittchen & Essau, 1993). Stimulated by the introduction of explicit diagnostic criteria and operationalised diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–III; APA, 1980) and the Diagnostic Criteria for Research in ICD–10 (WHO, 1991), numerous studies in the 1980s and early 1990s, have assessed the extent, the nature, and more recently, the implications of comorbidity for a better understanding of mental disorders. Most studies investigated the association of anxiety and mood disorders, but increasingly there are also studies looking into the association of mood disorders with other disorders (such as somatoform and substance use disorders (Wittchen et al, 1993, 1996)) as well as with somatic conditions (axis II) and personality disorders (axis III).

Many psychiatric patients seem to suffer from a multitude of psychiatric disorders. The term comorbidity' was introduced to characterise that situation. This term, however, is multi-interpretable and thus conceals more than it clarifies. Five interpretations of the concept of comorbidity are discussed, in conjunction with the consequences their validity would have for psychiatric research, in particular for the biological branch. If the term comorbidity continues to be used without further qualification, it will slow down the process of conceptualisation of novel research strategies in experimental psychiatry, which is so urgently needed.

Prior to 1952 a Registrar was available at The Maudsley Hospital from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. to see out-patients of the hospital who wished to consult a doctor outside the times of their routine appointments. In 1952 the necessity for a more extended service was recognized by the appointment of a Registrar to work whole-time in the Emergency Clinic. A special room and telephone were provided and in effect a psychiatric casualty department was established. The Hospital also offers an Emergency Service between 5.30 p.m. and 9.30 a.m., but this is not considered in the present study. With the change of policy towards more rapid discharge of patients from psychiatric hospitals and the care of the chronic mentally ill in the community, it seemed very probable that a psychiatric emergency clinic would be increasingly used for referral by family doctors and by patients spontaneously seeking advice, and in fact there were 1,830 attendances at the Clinic in 1958, 2,274 in 1960, and 3,377 in 1962.

The term “post-operative psychosis” refers to mental illnesses which follow in the wake of surgical operations. These conditions have received relatively little attention from psychiatrists. The text-books either do not mention them or, if they do so, consider them with the delirious or toxic-exhaustive states.

It has been shown that in depressive states (Sedman and Reed, 1963) and in schizophrenia (Sedman and Kenna, 1963) there is an association between the occurrence of depersonalization, a premorbid insecure personality and depression of mood.