Neuropsychological assessment, in the broader sense, is common clinical practice with older adults because of the widespread use of mental status examinations and dementia rating scales. In the more narrow sense, a neuropsychological assessment conducted by a clinical psychologist or clinical neuropsychologist is used less frequently and for more specific purposes. This paper outlines these uses and provides a brief overview of the different types of test that might be used, with a clinical example to illustrate the type of information gained. This review is designed not to be comprehensive, but to provide a pointer towards the latest trends in test development.

The deprivation of liberty safeguards were introduced into the Mental Capacity Act in 2008 to enhance the protection of adults in residential homes or hospitals who lack capacity in relation to their care arrangements and who are or may be deprived of their liberty. Deprivation of liberty itself is an imprecise concept and there may be difficulty in applying the appropriate authority where there is a choice between the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Mental Health Act 1983. Therefore, this article explains the evolution of mental capacity legislation and the concept of deprivation of liberty, how it may be recognised, prevented and authorised by deprivation of liberty safeguards, along with some of the interface issues with the Mental Health Act 1983.

This article argues that the current approach to guideline development for the treatment of depression is not supported by the evidence: clearly depression is not a disease for which treatment efficacy is best determined by short-term randomised controlled trials. As a result, important findings have been marginalised. Different principles of evidence-gathering are described. When a wider range of the available evidence is critically considered the case for dynamic approaches to the treatment of depression can be seen to be stronger than is often thought. Broadly, the benefits of short-term psychodynamic therapies are equivalent in size to the effects of antidepressants and cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT). The benefits of CBT may occur more quickly, but those of short-term psychodynamic therapies may continue to increase after treatment. There may be a ceiling on the effects of short-term treatments of whatever type. Longer-term psychodynamic treatments may improve associated social, work and personal dysfunctions as well as reductions in depressive symptoms.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) informs us that the first-line treatments for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are non-pharmacological. Although psychotropics used to be the main strategy in the management of behaviours that challenge, there has been an increase in the use of biopsychosocial formulations since 2010, and there are now over a dozen to choose from. However, many are overly focused on obtaining information about the agitation, and less specific about providing details of the actions required to manage the behaviours. The NICE guidelines too fail to provide specific guidance on which non-pharmacological approaches to use. This article argues for giving equal weight to both the collection of meaningful information and the development of ‘informed actions’, because it is the actions that lead to change. The article outlines a management programme providing a framework for the assessment, formulation and treatment of agitation in dementia. The work draws on theory, evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence to provide a model with sufficient structure and flexibility to be useful for clinicians across a range of settings and professional groups.

Aggression is common in older people with mental illness, with 15–43% of community referrals to old age psychiatry services and 44–65% of older people with Alzheimer's disease living in the community exhibiting such behaviour. In psychiatric in-patient units, assaults on staff are most common on wards for elderly people with organic mental illness. There is little high-quality research into the management of aggressive behaviour in dementia. We consider the available literature, which has shown certain behavioural measures and different classes of medication to be of benefit. We discuss factors associated with violence in elderly people with mental illness and potential management options.

It is deeply satisfying to all mankind that many ailments, once dangerous, mysterious and worrying, now offer the therapist of today wonderful opportunities for the exercise of his skill; but with recalcitrant distress, one might almost say recalcitrant patients, treatments tend, as ever, to become desperate and to be used increasingly in the service of hatred as well as love; to deaden, placate and silence, as well as to vivify. (Main, 1957, in The Ailment)

There are four high-security hospitals in the UK: Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire (founded in 1863), Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire (1914), Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside (1990), which opened following the amalgamation of Park Lane (1974) and Mosside Hospitals (1913), and the State Hospital at Carstairs in Lanarkshire (1948). The first three are known as the special hospitals and serve England and Wales. The latter offers a special security service, combining high and medium secure care, for the whole of Scotland and Northern Ireland – there is no form of medium secure psychiatric provision in these countries. All four hospitals provide care for patients with mental disorders and dangerous, violent or criminal propensities. There are approximately 1550 beds in these facilities and all patients are formally detained under mental health or criminal legislation. The special hospitals are currently administered by the high-security psychiatric services commissioning team, managed locally as individual authorities, although in the future it is intended to integrate them more fully into the National Health Service (NHS) and to organise both high and medium secure services at a regional level. Carstairs is administered by the State Hospital Board for Scotland which has the status of a special health board.

Psychiatry in the UK and in many other countries is facing a fundamental crisis in attracting new graduates. This poorly understood problem may be related to negative undergraduate experiences. Many clinicians have learnt through an ‘apprenticeship’ model and few are formally taught how to teach students in a modern clinical setting. Learning theory provides useful models for learning and teaching that can improve undergraduate clinical experiences. A variety of means are available to help teaching clinicians apply these theories, including self-help using published literature and gaining teaching qualifications. As the majority of modern undergraduate psychiatry teaching occurs during clinical placements, the incorporated techniques will need to be sensitive to the teaching environment. Application of these principles to day-to-day teaching practice may help to reverse the current staff shortages.

This article addresses how mental illness and psychiatry are dealt with in fictional narrative. The starting point is Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre. The characterisation of madness in that novel provides the basis for exploring how the physical and psychological differences of mentally ill people are portrayed, and how violence and the institutional care of people with mental illnesses are depicted. It is also argued that the fact that in Jane Eyre, Bertha Mason, the madwoman in the attic, is rendered voiceless is not accidental but emblematic of the depiction of mentally ill people in fiction. A number of novels are used to illustrate these issues.

Recent work suggests that a broad clinical spectrum of bipolar disorder is more common than previously thought and that the disorder may affect up to 5% of the population. The correct definition and diagnosis of hypomania is central to the identification of bipolar disorder. In this review we focus on recent diagnostic and clinical advances relating to bipolar disorder, with particular reference to hypomanic states. We also highlight some of the controversies in this field and discuss ways in which clinicians might improve their detection of bipolar disorders.

Early intervention services were established on the basis of a number of fundamental principles, including the notions that intervening in the early stages of psychosis alters illness trajectory and prognosis, that multicomponent interventions promote psychosocial recovery and reduce iatrogenic damage, and that early targeting of non-responders reduces treatment resistance. There is growing evidence of the benefits of specialised early intervention services. These include improved clinical, social and vocational outcomes, reduced in-patient stays and better engagement. Early intervention services can also significantly reduce the risk of a second episode and are highly valued by service users and carers. Duration of treatment appears to determine long-term outcome and there remains uncertainty about how long such intensive intervention should last and whether all patients need the same length of care. Budgetary constraints are pervasive and are particularly likely to affect prodrome clinics and community awareness programmes.

This is an overview of epidemiology relevant to mental health problems in old age. We start by reviewing some basic terminology: the definitions of prevalence and incidence; the difference between descriptive and analytical epidemiology; the differences between study designs, including cross-sectional, case–control and cohort studies. We then cover the main epidemiological features of the major psychiatric diseases that affect older people (dementia and its different types, depression, late-onset schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, delirium, anxiety-related disorders, eating disorders, alcohol and substance misuse, personality disorders) and suicide.

We end with some descriptive statistics regarding quality of life in older people.

Recent research has highlighted the fact that a significant number of patients with bipolar affective disorder have a poor outcome (Cole et al, 1993). The most common poor outcome is the development of rapid or ultra-rapid cycling, but mixed states, prolonged depression and severe mania are also associated with poor outcome. It is estimated that approximately one-third of patients with bipolar affective disorder do not respond fully to lithium and a significant number of patients discontinue lithium (Post, 1990) which may itself cause further problems.

Cognitive linguistics is a new development in one of the basic sciences of psychiatry. It takes a novel approach to metaphor that is having an impact on philosophy and cognitive neuroscience, offering a perspective on questions about the development of language and the embodiment of mind that may have an impact on psychiatry. Likewise, our expertise in mental pathology may be required for further development in cognitive linguistics (Lakoff, 1997).

This article, the first of two on placebo effects, provides a broad overview of placebo in the field of medicine. A brief conceptual history is followed by some basic facts about placebos. Problems of definition are identified. Additive and non-additive models of treatment effects, and problems of measurement of placebo effects are described. The role of placebo in the pharmacotherapy of depression and complementary and alternative medicine is discussed. The ‘efficacy paradox’ (that placebo treatments can have larger effects than ‘evidence-based treatments’) is introduced. Finally, ethical issues are discussed.

Several English prisons contain democratic therapeutic communities (TCs) for personality disordered offenders, and addiction TCs for serious substance misusers. This article describes how these are organised and comments on how they are specifically tailored and accredited for use in custodial settings. It also describes ‘psychologically informed planned environments’ (PIPEs), offender pathways for those with personality disorders and psychopathy which provide additional support for psychological treatment. It ends by explaining how ‘enabling environments’ are assessed, since these are now becoming widely adopted in prisons to reverse toxic environments – which affect staff, the prison and the outside world as well as the individual prisoner – and to counter negative learning found in custodial institutions.

In this issue of APT Mountain & Shah seek to reconcile the currently fashionable ‘recovery’ paradigm of mental healthcare with the distinctly unfashionable ‘medical model’ of psychiatric practice. I argue that their article raises more questions than it answers – not least whether the recovery concept is amenable to empirical analysis.

The last 20 years have witnessed a surge of interest in assertive community treatment (ACT) for the severely mentally ill (Drake & Burns, 1995). ACT aims to help people who would otherwise be in and out of hospital on a ‘revolving door’ basis live in the community and enjoy the best possible quality of life. Services based on the ACT model seek to replace the total support of the hospital with comprehensive, intensive and flexible support in the community, delivered by an individual key worker or core services team. They are organised in a way that optimises continuity of care across different functional areas and across time.

With an ageing population and more drivers on the road, the number of drivers with dementia is due to grow exponentially over the next 50 years. Although decisions regarding possession of a driving licence in the UK are made by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), psychiatrists have a duty to advise patients who are unfit to drive to cease driving and to inform the DVLA of patients who pose a risk to the public by continuing to drive when advised not to. This article offers a review of the literature on dementia and driving and summarises the evidence and advice for navigating this minefield. The use of psychological test batteries in clinical practice is discussed, along with the most useful questions to ask in memory clinics. Legal guidance for various countries is considered, as is the important (but often overlooked) issue of helping older people prepare for retirement from driving.