Several studies have explored serotonin (5-HT) transmission in people with anorexia nervosa, but their results have been inconsistent.

According to a double-blind placebo-controlled design, plasma prolactin response to the specific serotonergic probe d-fenfluramine was investigated in 10 underweight and two normal-weight women with anorexia, and in 12 age-matched healthy females. Eating-related psychopathology, depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and aggressiveness were measured by appropriate rating scales.

Compared with healthy control subjects, the women with anorexia showed reduced baseline prolactin and oestrogen levels and increased basal Cortisol concentrations. The prolactin response to d-fenfluramine was blunted and did not correlate with psychopathological measures.

These results support a dysfunction of 5-HT transmission in anorexia nervosa. This dysfunction does not seem to be related to concomitant depressive or obsessive-compulsive symptoms or to the level of aggressiveness of the patients.

The aetiology of treatment-resistant major depression is little understood; its apparent intractability may reflect brain abnormality.

Magnetic resonance images of the brains of 20 subjects with major depression lasting for two years or more were compared with 20 healthy control subjects and 20 other subjects who had completely recovered from depression. Subjects were individually matched for age, gender, years of education and premorbid IQ. Grey matter was segmented from the images, and compared between groups on a voxel-by-voxel basis.

Subjects with chronic depression showed reduced grey matter density in the left temporal cortex including the hippocampus. There was also a trend for reduction in the right hippocampus. Left hippocampal grey matter density was correlated with measures of verbal memory, supporting the functional significance of the observed magnetic resonance imaging changes.

Our results potentially challenge the accepted view of depression as a functional and fully reversible illness, implying instead that more permanent brain changes may be associated with chronicity. Confirmatory longitudinal and prospective studies are required to determine whether these differences pre-date the onset of depression or are the result of the chronic illness process or its treatment.

Abnormalities presumed to occur during foetal life have been associated with schizophrenia. Polydactyly is a developmental abnormality but no previous association has been reported between Polydactyly and functional psychotic illness.

Individuals with both Polydactyly and a functional psychosis were ascertained during a study of familial schizophrenia.

Five such individuals were ascertained in the course of assessing 234 individuals with familial psychosis, giving a rate of Polydactyly in the sample of around 10 times the general population rate.

This study provides preliminary evidence that Polydactyly is over-represented in individuals with familial schizophrenia and related psychotic illnesses.

Moclobemide, a reversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase A, previously has been reported to have efficacy in the treatment of social phobia.

Seventy-seven non-responders to one week of single-blind placebo were randomly assigned to moclobemide or placebo for eight weeks of double-blind treatment. Outcome was assessed by independent evaluator, treating psychiatrist and self-ratings. After eight weeks, patients who were at least minimally improved continued treatment for a further eight weeks.

Intention-to-treat sample response rates at week 8 were 7/40 (17.5%) for the moclobemide group and 5/37 (13.5%) for placebo (NS). Moclobemide was significantly superior to placebo on 2 of 10 primary outcome measures. Moclobemide was well tolerated.

Moclobemide may have efficacy in the treatment of social phobia, but absence of significant differences on most primary outcome measures and small effect sizes for all outcome measures suggest that the magnitude of its clinical effect is small.

This study examined the association of common mental disorders in primary health clinic attenders with indicators of poverty and disability in Goa, India.

Adult attenders (n=303) in two primary health clinics were recruited.

There were 141 (46.5%) cases of common mental disorder. The following were associated with common mental disorder: female gender; inability to buy food due to lack of money; and being in debt. Cases scored significantly higher on all measures of disability. Primary health clinic staff recognised a third of the morbidity but used multiple oral drugs, injectable vitamins and benzodiazepines to treat common mental disorders.

Poverty is closely associated with common mental disorder which in turn is associated with deprivation and despair. Primary mental health care priorities in low-income countries need to shift from psychotic disorders which often need specialist care to common mental disorders. Health policy and development agencies need to acknowledge the intimate association of female gender and poverty with these disorders.

The Temperance Boards in Sweden registered individuals for three reasons: public drunkenness, driving under the influence of alcohol and committing a crime in connection with alcohol. We wanted to ascertain whether these three forms of alcohol-related problems result from similar or different genetic and environmental risk factors.

We conducted a trivariate twin analysis of these three causes of registration in all male-female twin pairs of known zygosity born in Sweden, 1926–1949 (n=5177 twin pairs).

Prevalences of registration for public drunkenness, drink-driving and alcohol-related crime were, respectively, 9.0, 3.6 and 4.0%. The best-fitting model had one general genetic and one general familial – environmental factor with specific genetic risk factors for drink-driving and specific familial – environmental risk factors for alcohol-related crime.

The three causes for alcohol registration in Sweden largely reflect the same genetic and environmental risk factors. Estimated heritabilities were similar for the three forms of registration. However, specific genetic risk factors exist for drink-driving and specific familial – environmental risk factors for alcohol-related crime. Genetic factors are somewhat less important and familial –environmental factors more important for public drunkenness than for drink-driving and alcohol related crime.

Increased central serotonin (5-HT) function has been hypothesised to be a vulnerability trait in anorexia nervosa.

Eighteen women with a history of DSM–III–R anorexia nervosa and 18 female controls were examined. The subjects had recovered weight and menstrual function. A placebo-controlled d-fenfluramine test was used. Subjects ingested d-fenfluramine or placebo and after three hours were offered a ‘free’ meal. The amounts eaten were recorded and plasma Cortisol and prolactin levels were measured. Questionnaires related to eating attitudes and behaviour, to personality, and to mood were administered.

Unlike the control subjects, those recovered from anorexia nervosa did not show the expected appetite-suppressing responses to d-fenfluramine; their eating attitudes and behaviour were more restrained, ‘negative’ perfectionism was more pronounced, and post-meal plasma Cortisol levels did not rise as expected.

Our results do not suggest that increased central 5-HT function is a trait marker in anorexia nervosa, but dysregulation in part of the central 5-HT system may be a vulnerability factor. The flattened post-meal response to Cortisol in the subjects who had recovered from anorexia nervosa suggests that their hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis may be altered and deserves further investigation.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be a persistent and disabling psychiatric disorder. There is little systematic research into the psychiatric consequences of road traffic accidents (RTAs) in children and adolescents.

A consecutive sample of 8–16-year-olds attending an accident and emergency department following RTAs were screened for PTSD. Potential cases and their parent(s) were interviewed with semi-structured research instruments about six weeks and six months after the accident.

Fifty-three (45%) of the 119 subjects fell above PTSD cut-off on the Frederick's Reaction Index. Thirty-three (75%) of the 44 cases met DSM–IV criteria for PTSD. In half of these other psychiatric disorders were present, including major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Being female, involvement in car accidents and pre-existing depression and anxiety were associated with developing PTSD. Seventeen per cent of the sample continued to be symptomatic six months after the accident.

PTSD is a common consequence of RTAs. Liaison with accident and emergency departments would enhance the early detection and follow-up of children at risk of developing PTSD.

This paper evaluates the effects on knowledge and clinical stability of an educational intervention about tardive dyskinesia.

Fifty-six patients receiving antipsychotic maintenance completed a questionnaire assessing their knowledge about tardive dyskinesia. After random allocation to either an educational intervention or a control group, their knowledge was reassessed at six months.

Ninety-five per cent of patients completed the study. The study patients gained significantly more knowledge than the controls, who made modest gains. There were no significant differences in clinical outcome between the groups.

Patients can learn about serious toxic effects of antipsychotic treatment with a low risk of non-compliance. Discussion about tardive dyskinesia is necessary in the process of obtaining informed consent to treatment.

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in the study of distinctive patterns of behavioural and psychological characteristics associated with specific, biologically determined, intellectually disabling conditions. This study investigates whether such a profile can be identified in adults with Williams syndrome.

Parents and other care-givers were interviewed about the social, emotional and behavioural characteristics of 70 adults with Williams syndrome, aged 19 years to 39 years 9 months.

The adults were reported to have high rates of behavioural and emotional difficulties, particularly in terms of poor social relationships, over-friendliness and social disinhibition, preoccupations and obsessions, and high levels of anxiety and distractibility.

The findings provide preliminary support for the existence of a specific pattern of behavioural and personality characteristics and associated difficulties in adults with Williams syndrome, which persist from childhood and often require intervention from mental health professionals. Implications for clinical practice are considered.

A 17-year-old boy suffering from a severe schizophrenic disorder of the paranoid type and mental retardation did not respond to treatment with typical antipsychotics, whereas under clozapine treatment he showed a favourable response. Discontinuation of clozapine led to an acute psychotic relapse. During clozapine treatment the patient developed severe neutropenia.

Due to the history of unsatisfactory response to traditional antipsychotics, clozapine treatment was continued despite white blood cell (WBC) decline. Concomitant treatment with G-CSF was followed by a rapid normalisation of WBC.

This case report is not intended to challenge the clinical practice of discontinuing clozapine upon the development of neutropenia/agranulocytosis, but rather to stimulate further research in the pathophysiology and clinical consequences of a clozapine rechallenge after a WBC decline, especially in patients with a rather complex symptomatology where no sufficient therapeutic results can be achieved with any other pharmacological intervention than clozapine.

ODIN aims (a) to provide data on the prevalence, risk factors and outcome of depressive disorders in rural and urban settings within the European Union (EU) based on an epidemiological sampling frame; and (b) to assess the impact of two psychological interventions on the outcome of depression and on service utilisation and costs.

Five centres across the EU are participating in ODIN. The centres are linked electronically and members meet regularly for training and strategic reviews. Urban and rural areas have been identified in each centre. The sampling frame is of adults aged 18–64, identified via primary care databases or electoral registers. Potential cases of depressive disorders are identified using the Beck Depression Inventory. SCAN II and other validated measures are used to assign caseness against DSM–IV and ICD–10 criteria; assess comorbidity, disability, genetic/familial susceptibility, psychosocial stressors, personality traits and cognitive factors; and utilisation of local health care services. A randomised controlled trial of individual problem-solving treatment and a group educational programme is undertaken for respondents identified as cases of depressive disorder. Individuals are followed-up at six and 12 months.

ODIN has already stimulated the development of an effective international research partnership.

We have previously reported that people who are cocaine-dependent have reduced blue cone b-wave electroretinogram (ERG) responses. In this preliminary study, we examined the relationship between blue cone ERG amplitudes and craving response to cocaine cues.

A new series of 14 recently withdrawn subjects who were cocaine-dependent completed a cocaine craving questionnaire at baseline, and again following exposure to laboratory cues; an ERG was also performed.

Cocaine-dependent subjects with a blunted ERG blue cone response (<0.5 μV) showed significantly greater increases in craving following cue-exposure than subjects without the blunted ERG blue cone response.

Subjects with a blunted ERG response may represent a subgroup more vulnerable to cocaine craving and relapse.