Although a great deal of biological research has been carried out on several psychiatric disorders, it is disappointing to see how little progress has been made in the field of the biology of personality. The authors underline the methodological problems that arise in the investigation of biological substrates of human personality and review both currently available and putative peripheral markers of the central nervous system that might be used in further human studies.

One hundred and sixteen patients with RDC unipolar recurrent depressive disorder, melancholic subtype, were treated with imipramine or phenelzine and followed-up for six months. None of the patients had a first-degree relative with bipolar I disorder. Twenty-six patients (22.4%) presented an hypomanic episode (‘hypomanic group’). This group of patients, when depressed, had a significantly lower age of onset of the disorder and higher response to antidepressant therapy than patients who did not present an hypomanic episode. Significantly more patients (88%) of the ‘hypomanic group’ had at least one first-degree relative with a history of major depressive disorder. These patients displayed some of the typical features of bipolar II disorder. Overall results support the continuum in clinical phenomena between unipolar and bipolar disorders.

The stability of symptomatology and of eleven schizophrenic diagnostic systems was studied in patients initially in an acute phase (group 1) compared to patients in a residual phase (group 2). The patients were evaluated over a period of 1 year with a standardized checklist and PANSS in both groups. The number of patients included by the Carpenter, Calego, 1CD9, New-Haven, Schneider and Vienne systems decreased significantly between admission and discharge in group 1, whereas no variation was observed in group 1 between discharge and one year later, or in group 2 over a period of 1 year. The instability of schizophrenic diagnostic systems such as New-Haven, Schneider and Vienne could be due to the variation of positive or general symptomatology. The number of patients included by Feighner or Langfeldt did not vary significantly between admission and discbarge in group 1, in spite of a significant decrease in symptomatology, probably because certain criteria, such as duration of illness, hindered the systems from changing. The results showed the importance of specifying in every study on schizophrenia the time of inclusion (admission, discharge) or the phase of illness (acute or residual phase).

The authors conducted a home survey investigating the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of depression, suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts among a probability nationwide sample of 1316 adolescents aged 12-17 and 1114 young adults aged 18-24. Depressive symptoms were detected by the use of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale. 20.3% of adolescents and 35.7% of young adults were characterized as being depressed. Similar differences between the two age groups in the prevalence rates of suicidal ideation and attempts were observed. Suicide attempters of both age groups reported a higher number of depressive symptoms compared with the non attempters. Characteristics that distinguished the suicide attempters from the total sample were low rates of school attendance, use of substances, previous psychiatric help-seeking and additional mental health problems in families.

We assessed the lifetime prevalence of major depression in a sample of 145 patients with a current diagnosis of panic disorder and/or social phobia. The prevalenee tended to be higher in patients with both diagnoses. Patients with panic disorder and social phobia had an earlier onset of the former condition. Familial rates of panic were higher in patients with pure panic disorder, and the rate of depression was increased in relatives of probands who had a lifetime diagnosis of depression.

In 61 schizophrenic patients divided into subgroups according to DSM III-R, positive/negative symptoms and Leonhard's classification of systematic and non-systematic schizophrenia, the severity of illness (BPRS) and affective blunting (MARS and RSEB scales) were measured before and after neuroleptic therapy. The evaluation of affective blunting with the use of RSEB revealed more significant differences within schizophrenic subgroups than with the use of MARS. The severity of illness did not differentiate the subgroups studied. The affective blunting was more severe in patients with systematic than with non-systematic schizophrenia as well as in mixed and negative than in positive schizophrenia. The severity of illness correlated however with the severity of affective blunting. Clinical improvement after neuroleptic treatment was more favorable in patients with positive schizophrenia. The diminution of affective blunting after neuroleptic therapy varied among the subgroups.

Schizophrenics with “symptomatic trans-sexualism” may present themselves with the request for sex reassignment surgery. Two case reports illustrate that DSM III-R diagnosis for trans-sexualism offers insufficient guidelines for therapy management. The relation between schizophrenia and trans-sexualism is discussed.