Persons living with HIV report experiencing disproportionally severe and chronic pain and worry. However, no objective biomarkers of these subjective experiences have been developed. To address the lack of objective measures and assist in treatment planning, this study examined whether digital biomarkers of pain severity, pain chronicity and worry could be developed, using passive wearable sensors that continuously monitor movement. Results suggest that digital biomarkers can predict pain severity (r[35] = 0.690), pain chronicity (74.63% accuracy) and worry severity (r[65] = 0.642) with high precision, suggesting that objective digital biomarkers alone accurately capture internal symptom experiences in persons living with HIV.

Rates of involuntary admission are increasing in England. Personality disorder should be excluded as a criterion for involuntary admission; stronger restraint reduction programmes should be instigated; and involuntary care should be based on treating illness (something we can do) and not on predicting violence (something we cannot).

The calls to a telephone counselling service at Louvain, during a 21-month period, from one telephone zone were analysed. Data were studied in relation to the type of weather, which was recorded every day. Calls made by women about health and interpersonal problems showed a relationship to the weather, while calls apparently motivated by masturbation intentions from male callers increased when the weather improved.

This research assessed the rate of affective disorder in 124 mothers of preschool children, which was found to be lower than in earlier studies, i.e. twelve per cent during the child-rearing years, and eight per cent in the year before interview. In half of those mothers who had an affective episode during the child-rearing years, its onset had predated the birth of the first child. We investigated sociodemographic and social support variables in relation to clinical and subclinical disturbance and found only modest associations.

The apparent discrepancy between the present findings and those of previous research is discussed in relation to environmental and methodological factors.

Mental health and substance use disorders are the leading cause of long-term disability and a cause of significant mortality, worldwide. However, it is widely recognised that clinical practice in psychiatry has not fundamentally changed for over half a century. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is reviewing its trainee curriculum to identify neuroscience that relates to psychiatric practice. To date though, neuroscience has had very little impact on routine clinical practice. We discuss how a pragmatic approach to neuroscience can address this problem together with a route to implementation in National Health Service care. This has implications for altered funding priorities and training future psychiatrists. Five training recommendations for psychiatrists are identified.

One of the problems in psychiatric epidemiology is the use of hospital admissions for the study of true morbidity. Clearly this depends upon whether hospitalized cases can be regarded as a representative sample, in other words if admission to hospital varies from one social group to another, from one region to another, etc. Various authors have shown that the duration of hospital stay varies with social status, with marital condition, etc., and such variations in the chances of being discharged suggest similar variations in the probability of being admitted.

It has been shown by a number of workers that in a large proportion of cases the E.E.G.s of schizophrenic patients are abnormal. This paper is an attempt to increase our knowledge of the hereditary background of schizophrenia by recording the E.E.G.s not only of those suffering from the disease but also those of their near relatives.

The sensations produced were those of exquisite lightness and airiness … I expected to be lifted up and carried away by the first breeze … the walls of my frame were burst outward and tumbled into ruin, and without thinking what form I wore … I felt that I existed throughout a vast extent of space. The blood pulsed from my head, sped through uncounted leagues before it reached my extremities; the air drawn into my lungs expanded into seas of limpid ether, and the arch of my skull was broader than the vault of heaven … I was a mass of transparent jelly, and a confectioner poured me into a twisted mould. (Taylor, 1856)

It has now been established that megaloblastic anaemia may develop in patients receiving the anti-convulsant drugs phenytoin sodium (“Epanutin”) and primidone (“Mysoline”), given alone or in combination with phenobarbitone. Hobson et al. (1956) found 16 such cases described in the literature, and reported a case of their own in which megaloblastic anaemia developed in a patient addicted to a preparation (“Tuinal”) containing equal parts of amylobarbitone sodium (“Sodium amytal”) and quinalbarbitone sodium (“Seconal Sodium”), which are closely related chemically to primidone, sodium phenytoin and phenobarbitone. Characteristically the anaemia is not related to a deficiency of nor does it respond to treatment with vitamin B12, nor is there achlorhydria, thus distinguishing it from true Addisonian pernicious anaemia. The condition however responds promptly to the administration of folic acid by mouth.

This issue includes the findings from the largest randomised controlled trial ever conducted with bilateral, unilateral and bifrontal electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The background to the study and its findings are discussed.

A 30-year-old man with a 3-year history of tardive dyskinesia developed a neuroleptic malignant syndrome while having reserpine and lithium; his symptoms worsened following three doses of neuroleptic medication and improved with bromocriptine. The pre-existing dyskinesia made the presentation confused, and delayed proper diagnosis.

In two adults, both schizophrenia and hydrocephalus were associated with aqueduct stenosis. The prevalence is argued to be above chance, and may contribute to the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of the causality of schizophrenia.

In a controlled study, intellectual capacity and memory functions were assessed using standard instruments in a sample of 16 patients with ‘brain-fag syndrome’. The intelligence of the affected group was found to be generally above average and not significantly different from that of the control group. However, the patients had more difficulty in learning new words and in retaining such learning. The psychopathology of the syndrome is discussed.

In a sample of attenders screened at a London health centre, 13.6% of male and 1.3% of female respondents were drinking at levels considered unsafe by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and yet revealed few indicators to alert the general practitioner in terms of classical alcohol-related disability. Males, the unemployed, and those of Scottish or Irish origin were over-represented in the ‘at risk’ group. A significant proportion viewed their general practitioner as a source of help.