In recent years a number of new hypnotics have been introduced which are claimed to give a more natural sleep than barbiturates, and to be free from the dangers of addiction and of respiratory depression when taken in overdosage. Among these drugs is methaqualone, which is used either on its own (Melsed), or in combination with the antihistamine diphenhydramine hydrochloride (Mandrax).

A case of severe lactic acidosis following paraldehyde administration is described, and the adverse effects of paraldehyde reviewed.

The value of chlorpromazine in combating psychosis and its various symptoms has been firmly established in the last twenty years. The occurrence of sudden death and severe hypotensive reaction after being given the drug has been documented in the world literature (Kelly et al., 1963; Graupner et al., 1964; Rosati, 1964; Hollister et al., 1965; Grollman, 1965; Leestma et al., 1968).

We studied 27 patients who complained of pain, for which no organic basis could be found, and 11 patients without pain. All patients were depressed according to clinical diagnosis and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores. Plasma β-endorphin levels were found not to differ between the two groups or across other variables. The patients who complained of pain had significantly higher scores on the BDI.

Much of the current research on personality questionnaires has concerned itself with response style or bias related to “social desirability”, in which the first factor dimension of the M.M.P.I. is implicated (Edwards and Heathers, 1962). Stable personality differences have been detected between those who are placed high and low on this dimension as measured by a number of M.M.P.I. scales (e.g. Pt (Psychasthenia), K (Defensiveness), Taylor's MAS (Manifest Anxiety), Welsh's A (Anxiety) Scale—see Christie and Lindauer, 1963). However, a lack of integration has resulted from a failure to recognize that the same personality variable is being measured by scales of “social desirability”, “repression-sensitization”, or the tendency to deny or admit symptoms, and as well as “social desirability”, this factor has been identified as “general maladjustment or ego weakness” (Kassebaum, Couch and Slater, 1959), and “neuroticism” (Eysenck, 1962).

It is now widely accepted, especially in the United States, that confining lawbreakers in mental hospitals as insane, without the benefit of a real trial, rather in prisons as criminals, after a proper trial, is a recent, enlightened Western practice. Nothing could be further from the truth. The practice is not recent, enlightened, or typically Western – resembling the Oriental despotic arbitrariness towards troublesome persons much more closely than the Occidental legal respect towards persons accused of crimes. Many 19th-century cases illustrate the procedure and support my foregoing interpretation of it. The following is a typical example.

This is a report of the treatment of four patients suffering from a syndrome consisting of a single delusion in association with depression. The tendency of monodelusional syndromes to respond to a pimozide provides a rationale for nosological organisation.

Oxypertine is a new piperazine derivative, believed to have tranquillizing, antiadrenergic and hypotensive properties. Unpublished reports have suggested that it might be useful in chronic schizophrenia, although the recent study by Calwell et al. (1964) shows that its usefulness in this condition is limited. In view of its putative tranquillizing effect, the present clinical trial was undertaken to determine, under double-blind conditions, its efficacy as an adjunctive treatment for chronic anxiety neurosis. Ratings of anxiety symptoms were the major criteria for assessing the patients' progress, but the IPAT Anxiety Scale (Cattell and Scheier, 1957) was also included as a potentially useful measure of anxiety. An investigation of its validity was a subsidiary aim of the study.

The variety and complexity of schizophrenic movement disorders renders them difficult to assess. In particular, the complex disorders of motility that appear to reflect disturbance of the will demand an evaluation of the purpose of the movement. The difficulties of assessment are compounded by the fact that the antipsychotic drugs used to treat the illness can produce motor disorders that resemble the disorders intrinsic to the illness. In advancing his ‘conflict of paradigms' hypothesis, Rogers (1985) implied that emphasis on the distinction between intrinsic and drug-induced movement disorders might be misplaced because of overlap not only in the observable characteristics of these disorders, but also in the underlying neuropathology.

Individual–psychological studies (psychoanalytical) and interactional studies (based on family research and family therapy) approach the psychological processes connected with the origins of schizophrenia from different angles. They thus complement each other. Five major propositions are formulated to integrate the psychodynamic concepts dealing with vulnerability to schizophrenia. The integration of family- and individual-centred starting-points has proved to be very useful in developing treatment methods for schizophrenic patients.