In a previous study of old people living in the community, those with functional psychiatric disorders (usually neuroses) were found to have relatively low IQs on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) (Britton et al., 1967). This observation required confirmation and was open to a number of interpretations.

R. D. Laing has offered a challenge to society and to psychiatry which is difficult to accept, for it implies that ‘sane’ society and psychiatry as its instrument actually perpetuate rather than alleviate certain kinds of mental illness. In spite of Laing's growing popularity with the counter-culture, there is a conspicuous lack of consideration of Laing's thought in the psychiatric literature. This may be taken as a rejection of what Laing says, a sort of professional passive aggression. Indeed many would suggest that Laing has passed the limits of sanity; he is certainly deviant. Yet psychiatry's reticence may reflect the difficulty in responding appropriately to Laing's indictment. Apparently there is much truth in Laing's analysis. It is existential, and his considerations involve each of us as persons, not just as members of a corporate group, psychiatrists or sane citizens. Furthermore there is a temptation either to accept or to reject what Laing says as a whole without careful attention to the implications of his arguments.

In recent months, the Association has been consolidating its position in the various activities in which it is involved. In the summer, the focus was on Cardiff where APIT and the College both met. It was noted that there was a poor attendance of trainees, prompting thoughts on the causes of this and possible remedies. Solutions that could be considered include doing more to help trainees get to meetings, e.g. out of term time providing accommodation in students’ hostels. Some of the meetings could be more interesting; more papers, seminars, parallel sessions, ‘satellite’ activities could all be tried. On the other hand, one causal factor appears to be lack of knowledge of or interest by trainees in the College’s activities: Affiliates are dwindling rapidly in number and the role of the Inceptor does not fire the enthusiasm that is necessary to overcome the other obstacles (work load, financial) to attending meetings.

The aim of this paper is to describe and compare the prevalence patterns of completed suicide and so-called ‘attempted suicide’ or parasuicide, as they occur in a single, defined population over the same period of time.

Phenothiazines and other neuroleptic drugs are known to cause extrapyramidal side-effects. Consequently antiparkinsonian (AP) drugs are commonly prescribed at the same time as antipsychotic medication in order to prevent these complications. Once this medication has been started it may be continued for prolonged periods.

In recent years reports have shown that in psychiatric practice in this country short treatments with relatively brief interviews and much reliance on drugs are the rule (Carstairs and Bruhn, 1962; Sargant and Slater, 1964). That this is also true of general practice has been demonstrated (Cooper, 1965; Shepherd et al., 1966).

The Schizophrenia Bulletin is an experimental publication now being issued on a quarterly basis by the National Institute of Mental Health. Its purpose is to facilitate the dissemination and exchange of information about schizophrenia and to provide abstracts of the recent literature on the subject. To date, eight experimental issues have been published, each focusing on a major theme—for example, the biochemistry of schizophrenia, twin studies, childhood schizophrenia and autism, and psychosocial treatment approaches. The current issue (no. 8) features part t of an exhaustive review entitled, ‘Children at Risk: The Search for the Antecedents of Schizophrenia’. In addition to review articles focusing on a major theme, the Bulletin features articles reporting original observations in laboratory or clinical research, short reports of preliminary or negative research results, theoretical dissertations and other essays, and news items describing research and training programmes or reporting professional activities in schizophrenia.

The psychiatric anamnesis is a lengthy enquiry based on the Meyerian principle that most aspects of a patient's past and present history are relevant to the diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorder. Despite widespread use by both clinicians and research workers, the anamnesis has been the subject of few investigations regarding its reliability and validity. The studies reported have not encouraged confidence in traditional history taking (Haggard et al., 1960; Wenar and Coulter, 1962; Beckett et al., 1967). The present study was carried out to investigate the reliability of the family and personal history.

The incidence of Trichuris trichiura infestation in the United Kingdom appears to be particularly high in hospitals for the mentally subnormal (Lynch et al., 1972) and amongst immigrant children (Thompson et al., 1972). Whether or not these, mainly light to moderate, infestations are harmful appears to be in doubt, but in view of the recommendations of the WHO Expert Committee (1964), the possibility of spread of the infestation to ward attendants, and the publicity (Western Mail, 1970) which may attend attempts to eliminate the parasite from the environment of a subnormality hospital, treatment is desirable if not obligatory.

Hald and Jacobsen (1948) introduced disulfiram as an adjunct in the treatment of alcoholism. Its usefulness has, however, been limited by the ease with which patients may discontinue medication and resume drinking. A preparation of disulfiram suitable for implantation was developed some years ago, and though its use has been mainly confined to the continent of Europe, several case reports have been published in this country (Kellam et al., 1968; Kellam, 1969). Madden and Malcolm (1972) suggest, from a follow-up study of 47 alcoholics, that implantation is followed by a period of sobriety of about six months, but they have made no comparison with a control group of patients.

In a previous study (Liss, Welner and Robins, 1973), the hospital records of 212 patients who received a diagnosis of personality disorder other than antisocial personality were studied. The clinical information about these patients was used to arrive at an established psychiatric diagnosis based upon the rigorous diagnostic criteria designed for research (Feighner, Robins, Guze, Woodruff, Winokur, and Munoz, 1972). In 118 cases (56 per cent) the clinical symptoms and the course of the disorder met the required diagnostic criteria for one or more of the established psychiatric diagnoses. The remaining 94 patients (44 per cent) had too few symptoms to meet these criteria.

Penrose and Smith (1966) have reviewed the literature on Down's syndrome in great detail, and this has been followed by an important recent review by Richards (1973). In Chapters 10 and 11 of Penrose and Smith's book they discuss the remarkable frequency distribution of the ages of mothers of patients, compared with that of the general population at the corresponding place and time, and they summarize the large number of studies made on this subject. The mean age of the mothers is shifted upwards by amounts which vary in different countries from about 6 to 8 years. The remarkable feature, however, is that there appear to be two bumps in the curve. These are usually (but not always) not large enough to make the curve bimodal, and J. B. S. Haldane therefore coined the term ‘bitangentiality’ for this phenomenon, which appears in most published studies and in the group of all sample cases (9,441) given by Penrose and Smith, Fig. 76. Collmann and Stoller (1962) make a complete survey of all mongol births in Victoria, Australia, from 1942 to 1957 and here there is a distinct bimodality.

Investigations into possible relationships between EEG and personality traits began in 1935 (Lemere, 1935), and have continued sporadically (Saul et al., 1937; Gottlober, 1938; Lindsley, 1938; Henry and Knott, 1941). More recently there has been a controversial British exchange (Savage, 1964; Fenton and Scotton, 1967; Broadhurst and Glass, 1969; Young et al., 1971).