The results are described of a transcultural psychiatric study of schizophrenia undertaken by WHO in nine countries. The study proved that such a collaboration was feasible, that it was possible to develop research procedures for international use, and that similar types of schizophrenia could be found in each of the countries involved. One thousand two hundred and two patients were studied and over 2 million items of information obtained.

Daily measurements of MHPG in urine have been carried out in two patients with manic-depressive psychosis. In both cases, levels in mania were elevated and in depression lowered with interval levels which were intermediate and within the normal range. The results lend some support to the suggestion that there might be an increase in brain noradrenaline metabolism in mania and a decrease in depression.

An earlier study suggested that the mining valleys of South Wales produced a higher rate of declared psychiatric illness than nearby rural areas. A replication during a later period showed that the rural area had now caught up with the mining area but a difference in sex ratios between the two areas had remained remarkably constant. A sampling survey, using self-assessment of symptoms in random samples, indicated that differential selection into the psychiatric services was likely to be a determining factor.

This paper attempts to show how a public health measure, by reducing production and withdrawing methylamphetamine (Methedrine) from retail pharmacists, dramatically affected the prevalence of its abuse in a provincial population. This measure coincided with the midpoint of a four-year survey into drug abuse which was being carried out in that area. This opportune timing created a natural experiment whereby it became possible to observe and measure the short- and long-term effects of a single social factor on one form of abnormal behaviour.

The Medical Research Council Social Psychiatry Unit was set up at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1948 by Professor Sir Aubrey Lewis, who remained its honorary director until March 1965. The origins of the unit were described by Dr. Neil O'Connor in an introduction to Studies in Psychiatry (Shepherd and Davies, 1968). This book in honour of Professor Lewis contains six chapters by former unit members summarizing the scientific programme up to that date. A new unit, with the same name, was then set up at the Institute of Psychiatry under the directorship of Professor J. K. Wing, with the aim of investigating social and clinical factors which influence the development of chronic disablement in psychiatric patients and of devising and evaluating techniques of treatment and prevention.

A sudden loud noise produced a large and rapid rise in plasma glucagon in the conscious primate. A similar rise took place when stresses were applied to anaesthetized animals.

A group of male chronic schizophrenies in hospital for over two years was compared with a similar group attending a day hospital in respect of severity of handicaps and social circumstances. Inpatients were significatitly more handicapped on all the measures used, and it was concluded that severity of handicaps was the main reason for the failure to discharge them from hospital. The implications for the planning of services for the chronic psychiatric patient are discussed.

In a double-blind crossover trial lithium carbonate was found to be significantly superior to placebo in the prophylaxis of manic-depressive (bipolar) psychosis. A striking feature was the high incidence of manic or hypomanic attacks in patients who relapsed on placebo. Patients participated in the trial with their full knowledge and consent.

In a single case study of changes during psychotherapy, the patient reported more subjective distress after interviews than before, despite evidence of improvement over six months of a treatment apparently low in ‘therapeutic conditions’. The implications of findings from this and related studies for the psychotherapeutic process are discussed.