A sample of borstal boys was selected (56). All had an assessment of mental state and ratings of sociopathy and aggressiveness performed, using structured interview techniques. A group of RAMC apprentices matched for age, sex and social class, was also examined (56). Eight-channel bipolar scalp EEG recordings were taken, 4 channels (T4–T6, P4–O2, T3–T5, P3–O1) being recorded on analogue tape. The tape-recorded signals were filtered off line through a low pass filter, multiplexed and digitized on to magnetic tape. Power spectral analysis was carried out on this data, using the University of London CDC 60 600 computer. Three 30-second epochs were analysed: eyes closed, eyes open, and eyes closed. No significant EEG differences were found between the borstal boys and the control sample. Neither visual inspection nor power spectral analysis revealed any EEG differences between the borstal boys and controls. Correlation coefficients between the power at each frequency from all four channels, the violence and sociopathy ratings and the time spent in institutional care in months for each boy were computed. These showed that violence contributes not more than 1 per cent and sociopathy not more than 5 per cent to the variance of the EEG power. Duration of stay in the institution accounted for as much as 20 per cent of the variance of the EEG power with significant correlations at 7 Hz (positive) and 11 Hz (negative). Duration of stay is thus a variable that must be controlled for during the investigation of subjects in penal institutions and long-stay hospitals.

The Committee's terms of reference were ‘To inquire into the deaths by suicide of patients at Warlingham Park Hospital during 1974 and 1975 and to prepare a Report to the Area Health Authority on these and the wider significance in relation to psychiatric care facilities in Croydon.’ The 143-page Report (Committee of Inquiry, Warlingham Park Hospital 1976) is now being read by the local public who demanded the inquiry and by psychiatric hospital managers who expect to find causes and cures for suicides in their own hospitals. Unfortunately, the Report fails to reveal that the suicides were of doubtful significance; that the suggested causes are of even more doubtful validity; and that there was a period of abnormally low rate immediately prior to the period in question, the causes of which the Committee failed to investigate.

This paper examined some social and clinical characteristics of a group of formally admitted patients. Factors of a more long-standing nature preceding the admission were particularly emphasized. The study describes a group of 80 consecutive formal admissions from a London borough and compares them with a random sample of 80 informal admissions. The borough has many characteristics associated with an inner city area, e.g. a high incidence of people living alone, foreign born, single and the elderly.

Middlewood Psychiatric Hospital, Sheffield, has recently provided facilities for the admission of babies with mothers suffering from psychiatric illness. The venture was sufficiently novel and noteworthy to receive mention in national newspapers, and one gathers that medical and nursing staff are pleased and encouraged by their experiences with their first few mother-infant pairs.

Examination of the existing literature on long-stay patients reveals two interesting parallel trends: an emphasis on descriptive studies characteristic of British literature and an equally singular emphasis on prediction of outcome in studies from the USA. No attempt has yet been made to combine the two methods. The present investigation represents such an attempt.