With a psychiatrist's standardized clinical diagnosis as the criterion, the ‘Mini-Mental State’ Examination (MMSE) was 87% sensitive and 82% specific in detecting dementia and delirium among hospital patients on a general medical ward. The false positive ratio was 39% and the false negative ratio was 5 %. All false positives had less than 9 years of education; many were 60 years of age or older. Performance on specific MMSE items was related to education or age. These findings confirm the MMSE's value as a screen instrument for dementia and delirium when later, more intensive diagnostic enquiry is possible; they reinforce earlier suggestions that the MMSE alone cannot yield a diagnosis for these conditions.

Two hundred consecutive women from five Southampton general practices who were between 8 and 14 weeks postpartum were visited at home. Each subject was given the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and a standardized psychiatric interview. Thirty-seven (18%) were identified as ‘cases’ by the psychiatric interview. Eighty-nine (44.5%) scored highly on the GHQ. Analysis of the results indicates that slight modification of the content and a raised cut-off point of the GHQ-30 make it a useful screening instrument for postpartum psychiatric disorder.

It is pointed out that the subjects used in psychiatric research experiments are usually drawn in such a way as to invalidate many of the commonly applied statistical tests. The necessarily non-statistical component of any inference is noted, and the area where one might hope for an exact statistical inference is identified. A class of tests permitting such inferences is described. Their theoretical and practical advantages are outlined.

Vasopressin was administered in the form of a nasal spray to a group of 7 head-injured patients and compared with placebo in its effects on intellectual functioning, each patient serving as his own control. No significant differences in performance were found during the conditions of placebo and the active agent.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with co-dergocrine in the treatment of tardive dyskinesia in a group of elderly chronic psychiatric patients the reduction of dyskinetic scores in the group receiving active medication was slightly greater than that in the placebo group; however, this difference did not reach a level of statistical significance. It is suggested that further work could be undertaken with a longer period of treatment, and at a higher dosage level of co-dergocrine, in a younger patient sample.

Screening for uncommon disorders gives rise to methodological problems. One of these problems is identified and discussed within the context of the Eating Attitudes Test.