Unemployment became more common among females attempting suicide in Oxford between 1976 and 1985, although the rise was less than expected from the increased general-population female unemployment rate. Rates of attempted suicide among unemployed women between 1979 and 1982 were 7.5–10.9 times higher than those of employed women, and were particularly high in women unemployed for more than a year. Many more unemployed than employed women attempting suicide had a history of psychiatric difficulties, were suffering from alcoholism, and made repeat attempts. Two possible explanations are: firstly, the secondary consequences of unemployment increase the risk of suicidal behaviour; and, secondly, women already predisposed to psychiatric difficulties and hence attempted suicide are more likely to become unemployed.

A Republic of Ireland national survey of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) showed wide inter-hospital variation in ECT rates. Psychiatric admission rates, professional attitudes, and patient turnover were found to predict these rates. No significant association was found between ECT rates and public/private care or other socio-economic factors. A limited examination of British admission data revealed a similar set of correlations, suggesting that the findings may apply in non-profit health-care systems outside the Republic of Ireland.

The study tests the hypothesis that delusional and non-delusional depressive illnesses are distinct entities in late life. Two groups of 24 patients with late-onset depression, one with and one without delusions, were compared retrospectively. At the index admission, deluded patients were significantly more depressed, were in hospital for longer, responded poorly to antidepressants alone and required more physical treatments, especially ECT and major tranquillisers. Although illness severity was a major factor accounting for these differences, the finding that only the deluded group experienced delusional relapses suggests an underlying intrinsic susceptibility. The discharge status was similar for both groups, as were relapse rates over 48 months and the clinical course of depressive symptoms over 42–104 months. The findings are consistent with studies of younger patients which point to a distinction between these two types of depression, but not with recent work suggesting a very poor prognosis for delusional depression in late life.

On the basis of the records of subjects undergoing cross-gender hormonal treatment at the only gender treatment centre in the Netherlands, the prevalence of transsexualism was assessed over the years 1976–1986. In 1980, the prevalence was 1:45 000 for male-to-female and 1:200 000 for female-to-male transsexuals. In 1986 the prevalence for male-to-female transsexuals was 1:18 000, and for female-to-male transsexuals, 1:54 000. The increased prevalence is apparently due to a lower threshold for applying for medical treatment rather than to a true increase in the prevalence. Nevertheless, the calculated prevalence is higher than hitherto recorded. The ratio of male-to-female compared with female-to-male transsexuals was found to remain constant at 3:1.

Annual age-standardised rates for first contacts with psychiatric services in the Aberdeen area from 1969 to 1984 were calculated for schizophrenia, paranoid states, reactive psychoses, all affective psychoses, mania, and depressive neuroses. Highly significant declines occurred in the diagnosis of schizophrenia and of depressive neuroses. No concomitant increase occurred. It is concluded that these results probably indicate that there has been a fall in the incidence of schizophrenia in North-East Scotland. This may have arisen due to changes in the mode of expression and/or the severity of all functional psychoses.

The clinic attendance of 100 consecutive referrals to child psychiatry is described. Only 47 cases ended in agreed discharge. Different factors were found to be associated with attrition at different stages in the treatment-uptake process. Of referrals offered an appointment, 16% failed to attend at all; this was significantly associated with parents being against referral. Of cases offered a subsequent appointment, 40% dropped out. Continued attendance was associated with a presenting problem of general anxiety and with consultation to the referrer. Dropping out was associated with parents who were separated.

Classification is fundamental to science and a standard classification of diseases and injury is essential for the systematic statistical study of illness and death. This was recognised as early as the seventeenth century when such studies started and in 1853 Dr William Farr of London and Marc d'Espine of Geneva were entrusted with the task of preparing ‘a uniform nomenclature of causes of death applicable to all countries’. This led eventually to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death (ICD). In 1948, when the World Health Organization (WHO) was created, the newborn agency was asked to review and revise the classification regularly. The ICD is now undergoing its tenth revision.

Physical illness at referral and subsequent mortality were studied in a group of elderly patients with depression, and compared with age/sex-matched controls. The depressed group was significantly less well at first interview, and had a significantly higher 4–year mortality. When the effect of physical illness was controlled, the depressed patients (particularly the men) still had a significantly higher 4–year mortality, suggesting that the greater mortality in the depressed group was not due to differences in physical health alone.

This paper will review the major objectives and study design of the Field Trials of the draft chapter on Mental Behavioural and Developmental Disorders in the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), now in preparation. The text used in this Field Trial is the Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines, which is more elaborate than the Short Glossary for this chapter that will be published in the main volume of ICD-10. The text for the former will be published together with the Diagnostic Criteria for Research and other parts of the WHO family of instruments relevant to mental health.

The Geriatric Mental State Examination (GMS), a standardised psychiatric interview, and its computerised diagnostic system, AGECAT, have been applied to a large (1070) sample of subjects aged over 65 in Liverpool. In a split-half study of this sample, diagnostic scales within the GMS and a diagnostic index derived from them were tested for efficacy in cases of organic and early organic illness (mostly various stages of dementia) and depressive illness. Results demonstrated high levels of sensitivity and specificity, and positive predictive values were within the expected range when applied to these disorders, given their low prevalence in the community. The GMS, when used in this way, is a flexible and effective case-finding instrument.

The results of stereotactic subcaudate tractotomy in nine patients with resistant bipolar affective disorder are presented in the form of a single case study with a summary of the other eight cases. Follow-up studies at 2–4 years showed substantial improvement in five patients and amelioration of symptoms in a further four patients, with a tendency for a greater improvement in the manic than in the depressive episodes. These preliminary results suggest that there is a place for this operation in the management of severe bipolar affective disorders which are not responding to any other treatment, although decisive recovery occurs less often than with unipolar depression.

In this study, we compare the rates of psychiatric disorders found among women in a random sample of the general population with those of patients referred to specialist services. Both these groups were drawn from the same geographical area. The ratio of prevalence rates is less than the ratio between inception rates in the two groups. When only those with affective disorders were considered, the results revealed that the point prevalence in the treated-disorders group was only 1% of the community-group prevalence, while the inception into care in the former group was nearly 6% of that in the latter. Single women and older women were over-represented in the hospital sample.

A retrospective review of 131 psychiatric referrals of hospital in-patients aged 65 years and older was made to examine the referral rate, the characteristics of referred patients, and the pattern of diagnoses and recommendations made by the psychiatrist. The referral rate was much less than the estimated prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in similar populations. The majority of referrals received a psychiatric diagnosis, most commonly an organic psychiatric syndrome (37%) or depression (23%). Comparison of various aspects of referral for the periods before and after the introduction of a specific psychiatric liaison service for the elderly showed little change apart from a small increase in referral rate.

Occurrence of cerebrovascular accidents has been associated with cocaine abuse. We investigated the relative distribution of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in groups of chronic cocaine users, and of normal controls. Relative CBF was measured using positron emission tomography and 15oxygen-labelled water. The cocaine users showed areas of deranged CBF as evidenced by patchy regions of defective isotope accumulation throughout their brain. The chronic cocaine users showed decreased relative CBF in the prefrontal cortex when compared with normal subjects. The repeated scans of some cocaine users, after 10 days of cocaine withdrawal, continued to show decreased relative CBF of the prefrontal cortex. We hypothesise that some of the widespread defects in CBF in the cocaine users could reflect the effects of vasospasm in cerebral arteries exposed chronically to the sympathomimetic actions of cocaine.

The psychiatric state of 483 women was examined antenatally and at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Comprehensive assessments were made of all women antenatally and of subgroups of the full sample postnatally. Psychiatric state was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire, the Present State Examination and the Montgomery and åsberg Depression Rating Scale. In terms of PSE criteria, the point prevalence of non-psychotic psychiatric disorder antenatally was found to be 6.0%; and postnatally it was estimated to be 8.7% at 3 months, 8.8% at 6 months and 5.2% at 12 months after delivery. These prevalence rates were compared to the rate in a general population sample of non-puerperal women and found to be no greater. In a subgroup of the full sample, the incidence of psychiatric disorder in the year following delivery was estimated to be 15.1%, which is close to a figure previously reported for women in the community. The onset of psychiatric disturbance was soon after delivery in most instances; and, for the majority, the episode of disturbance lasted for 3 months or less. The distribution of PSE Catego classes and syndromes among the antenatal and postnatal samples were found to be similar to those in the non-puerperal comparison sample. Thus, the prevalence, incidence, and nature of non-psychotic psychiatric disorder in the 12 months following delivery do not appear to distinguish it from such disorders arising at other times.

The spouses of 40 women admitted to a psychiatric Mother and Baby Unit were interviewed to detect psychiatric morbidity, and aspects of their social and marital functioning. This group was compared with 25 men whose wives had not shown obvious psychiatric disorder in the puerperium. Psychiatric morbidity, using DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria, was present in 42% of the index group, and 4% of the comparison group. The main diagnoses were major depressive episode and generalised anxiety disorder. This was associated with poorer marital and social function in the index group. Male psychopathology after delivery has been studied little but may be significant in the management of postpartum syndromes.

On two occasions one year apart, the cognitive performance of 12 patients with presenile dementia Alzheimer type (ATD) and 14 with alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome (KS) was assessed both psychologically using the Christensen version of Luria's neuropsychological investigation and physiologically by measuring P300 (P3) and other long-latency auditory event-related potentials. All patients with ATD showed evidence of psychological deterioration and most also showed changes in auditory P3, whereas on all measures the KS group remained essentially unchanged. The extent of the changes in the ATD group varied, but in general those patients with most psychological deterioration also displayed the biggest changes in P3 wave form. There were two patterns of decline: a majority followed the traditional progressive course associated with Alzheimer disease; and in a minority, decline was slower. Methods for determining the rate of decline in individual patients with ATD, together with the prognostic implications, are discussed.

The number of deaths in a large series of suicide attempters followed up after their attempts was 3.3 times greater than expected. Suicide or probable suicide occurred in 2.8% by the end of the eighth year of follow-up, the rate of suicidal deaths being 26.9 times the expected rate. The highest risk of suicide was during the first 3 years, especially in the first 6 months, following an attempt. Factors identified at the time of the attempts which were associated with suicide risk included: being male, advancing age (females only), psychiatric disorder (especially schizophrenia), long-term use of hypnotics, poor physical health, and repeat attempts. Recent disruption of a relationship with a partner and major rows rarely preceded the attempts of those who later killed themselves. Factors predicting long-term risk of suicide also predicted short-term risk. There were more than double the expected number of deaths from natural causes, the excess being greatest in females. Markedly high death rates were found for endocrine, circulatory and respiratory diseases, and accidents.

Cognitive decline in a sample of 64 elderly people was assessed by a standardised informant interview dealing with changes in memory and intelligence which had taken place in the previous 10 years. Scores from the interview were found to correlate (r=0.74) with the Mini-Mental State Examination. Moreover, the informant interview was found to be less affected by pre-morbid ability than the MMSE. Direct assessment of decline by informants may be a solution to the problem of contamination by pre-morbid ability which affects traditional cognitive screening instruments.