There has been an adult psychiatry research group within the Institute of Psychiatry of the University of Verona since 1970. However, in 1980, the University of Verona established a Chair in Medical Psychology and since that time a separate department gradually developed. This department, primarily devoted to epidemiological studies in mental health and to teaching activities, was later involved also in clinical work and was officially recognized by the Regional Health Department and by the Local Socio Health authorities (ULSS No. 25, Verona), as Servizio di Psicologia Medica. They provided additional financial support and new infrastructures not only for its clinical activities but also for research carried out in its Research Unit.

Schizophrenic subjects (N = 48) and individually matched healthy controls were administered the Verbal Scale of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (VIQ) and a test of verbal fluency. The verbal fluency and VIQ scores of the schizophrenic subjects were significantly lower than the scores of the control subjects. An additional sample of healthy subjects (N = 144) was used to generate a regression equation for the prediction of verbal fluency scores from Verbal IQ and age. The verbal fluency scores obtained by the schizophrenic subjects were significantly lower than the scores predicted from the regression equation, whereas a significant difference was not obtained in the matched controls. These results provide further evidence of frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia.

A new semistructured instrument, the Standardized Polyvalent Psychiatric Interview or SPPI has been developed primarily for assessing medical patients. It has been built on the Clinical Interview Schedule and is intended to evaluate individuals in a multiaxial schema: psychopathology, including duration and severity of disorder; somatic disturbance; social problems and social supports: and pre-morbid personality, with especial emphasis on ‘neuroticism’. The SPPI generates enough information to allow the use of different research diagnostic criteria, including DSM-III-R, ICD-10 and Goldberg's criteria of ‘attribution’ of somatic symptoms and ‘relationships between psychiatric and physical disorder’. It also includes a section related to recommended treatment. The new interview fulfils standards of feasibility, face and content validity. An incomplete block design, inter-rater reliability study was carried out with a consecutive sample of 48 out-patients referred to the Psychosomatic-Liaison Service of the University Hospital of Zaragoza. A broad range of agreement coefficients were calculated, the results being quite acceptable (most kappas are in the range from 0·7 to 0·9) and tending to support the procedural validity of the interview.

The hypothesis that poor response to antipsychotic medication is due to inadequate occupancy of central D2 receptors was tested in vivo. We assessed striatal D2 dopamine receptor availability for binding with the specific ligand 123I IBZM by single photon emission tomography (SPET) in two groups of DSM-III-R diagnosed schizophrenic patients on typical antipsychotic medication, and a group of healthy controls (N = 20). Patients were characterized by clinical ratings as antipsychotic responders (N = 10) or non-responders (N = 8). Dynamic single slice SPET, at a slice chosen to include the basal ganglia, began immediately following intravenous injection of 185 MBq 123I IBZM. Semiquantitative analysis generated indices of D2 receptor availability for binding. There was no difference in striatal D2 receptor availability between the patient groups, both showing a similar degree of occupancy by antipsychotic medication compared to the control group. Thus, poor clinical response does not appear to be accounted for by differential blockade, or inadequate occupancy of striatal dopamine D2 receptors by antipsychotic medication.

In this paper the global design of a research project aiming at measuring expectations and satisfaction of patients, relatives, and professionals with community-based psychiatric services (CPS) in a multidimensional, sensitive, valid and reliable way is described. Some psychometric properties of two newly developed instruments, partly adapted from the Service Satisfaction Scale (SSS), the Verona Expectations for Care Scale (VECS) and the Verona Service Satisfaction Scale (VSSS), are discussed. Three groups were selected for inclusion in the study: all patients living with their families who had more than 18 contacts in the last three years, according to the South-Verona Psychiatric Case Register; the relative who had been mainly caring for the patient; and all professionals working in the South-Verona CPS for at least one year. Data on 75 patients and 76 relatives are presented and show that VECS and VSSS have good content validity and test–retest reliability in both groups. Notwithstanding some differences, patients and relatives expressed similar expectations and were mostly satisfied. The current study is the first to provide a parallel measurement of expectations and satisfaction in all three above-mentioned groups; moreover, it is the first to investigate consumers' satisfaction with a CPS organized according to the principles of the Italian Psychiatric Reform.