Despite domestic violence being a very common problem in individuals with severe mental illness, there is very little research in this setting. Multiple barriers exist to disclosure by users and enquiry by providers. Training and systems for identification and responding to domestic violence are urgently needed in mental health clinics.

Lithium is an established treatment for affective disorders with good evidence of antisuicidal properties. Alzheimer's disease rates are relatively reduced in patients with bipolar disorder on lithium and a recent trial of lithium in amnestic minimal cognitive impairment is indicative of potential benefits. This should stimulate further, larger-scale studies.

Rates of bipolar disorder in any sample will depend on the sample studied, the interview used, with whom, how the information is integrated, the criteria applied, and the conceptualisation of a manic episode and its symptoms. A cross-national diagnostic study is needed to determine the implications of different approaches and definitions.

Smoking is closely linked to severe mental illness and has a major detrimental impact on individuals' lives. Despite this and the recent societal ‘de-normalisation’ of smoking, the historic ‘smoking culture’ still prevails within mental health settings. Change is urgently required to prevent a widening of existing health gaps.

The question of whether a functional variant in the promoter of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) influences response to adversity and/or antidepressants has generated great interest and controversy. A review of the literature suggests that the issue is complicated by differences in methodology and sample ethnicity. When these confounders are accounted for, there probably is a real, if small, effect of 5-HTTLPR on response to both serotonin reuptake inhibitors and environmental adversity.

The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia provided a valuable framework that allowed a condition that usually presents with frank disorder in adolescence or early adulthood to be understood at least in part as a consequence of events occurring early in development. However, the implications of the neurodevelopmental hypothesis for nosological conceptions of the disorder can only now be fully appreciated. Recent research indicates genetic overlap between schizophrenia and syndromes in which psychopathology is manifest in childhood and that are often grouped together as ‘neurodevelopmental disorders' such as autism-spectrum disorders, intellectual disability and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. These findings challenge the aetiological basis of current diagnostic categories and, together with evidence for frequent comorbidity, suggest that we should view the functional psychoses as members of a group of related and overlapping syndromes that result in part from a combination of genetic and environmental effects on brain development and that are associated with specific and general impairments of cognitive function. This has important implications for future research and for the configuration of psychiatric services.

The Madrid Declaration is being promoted by representatives from seven nationally funded mental health research networks, along with leaders of ongoing European Union-funded mental health projects. It advocates the creation of a Network of Excellent Networks, based on a dynamic and adaptive cross-European network of distinctly qualified research centres.

The Movement for Global Mental Health is a coalition of individuals and institutions committed to collective actions that aim to close the treatment gap for people living with mental disorders worldwide, based on two fundamental principles: evidence on effective treatments and the human rights of people with mental disorders.

Psychological interventions for mood disorders can be divided into ‘skilled’ and ‘simple‘. Psychoeducation belongs to the latter group: a simple and illness-focused therapy with prophylactic efficacy in all major mood disorders. Successful implementation of psychoeducation requires a proper setting, including open-door policy, team effort and empowerment of the therapeutic alliance.

The DSM–IV scheme for classifying eating disorders is a poor reflection of clinical reality. In adults it recognises two conditions, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, yet these states are merely two presentations among many. As a consequence, at least half the cases seen in clinical practice are relegated to the residual diagnosis ‘eating disorder not otherwise specified’. The changes proposed for DSM–5 will only partially succeed in correcting this shortcoming. With DSM–6 in mind, it is clear that comprehensive transdiagnostic samples need to be studied with data collected on their current state, course and response to treatment. Only with such data will it be possible to derive an empirically based classificatory scheme that is both rooted in clinical reality and of value to clinicians.

Psychological treatments are widely used for the management of mental health and behavioural problems in people with intellectual disabilities. The evidence base, including the cost-effectiveness of such interventions, is limited. This editorial explores the current evidence base and analyses its strengths and limitations. The editorial also highlights current problems in conducting randomised controlled trials in this area and suggests a way forward.

The death of Professor John Wing, one of the giants of 20th-century British and world psychiatry, rightly deserves to be marked by a tribute in the British Journal of Psychiatry. This article has been prepared by four people who knew John personally and through his work, his partner in private and work life, a colleague in Great Britain and one abroad and a pupil, which are set out as four separate contributions. John was born on 22 October 1923. He died on 18 April 2010, aged 87.