In July 1745 Swedenborg returned to Sweden, and soon afterwards resigned his assessorship, so that he might be at liberty to devote himself to the new function to which he imagined that he had been especially called. Accordingly, all scientific studies and pursuits he now abandoned entirely; all worldly honours and interests he counted worthless; he devoted himself to that sacred office “to which the Lord Himself has called me, who was graciously pleased to manifest Himself to me, His unworthy servant, in a personal appearance in the year 1743; to open in me a sight of the spiritual world, and to enable me to converse with spirits and angels. … Hence it has been permitted me to hear and see things in another life which are astonishing, and which have never come to the knowledge of any man, nor entered into his imagination. I have been there instructed concerning different kinds of spirits, and the state of souls after death—concerning Hell, or the lamentable state of the unfaithful—concerning Heaven, or the most happy state of the faithful, and particularly concerning the doctrine of faith, which is acknowledged throughout Heaven.” He is well aware that many persons will affirm that such intercourse is impossible, and that it must be mere fancy and illusion on his part, but for all this he cares not, seeing that “he has seen, heard, and had sensible experience” of what he declares.

Renal dysfunction is so commonly present in cases of mental breakdown that it is of interest to know whether it is especially associated with any definite clinical type or types of mental disorder. In an endeavour to ascertain this, cases have been selected from recent admissions in which the form of disorder from a clinical point of view appeared to be sufficiently marked to warrant placing them in a definite category. Many cases present such a mixture of cycloid, schizoid, confusional or paranoid indications that in an investigation of this nature the selection of sufficiently clear-cut types from a clinical standpoint is not altogether an easy matter. To determine the degree of concentration and polyuria, Rosenberg's modification of the Volhard test has been adopted. It involves little discomfort to the patient and is as follows:—

The use of extended sources of information is an important part of the diagnostic process, since they corroborate, complement or correct information provided by the patients themselves.

In a minority of persons interviewed for the purposes of a court report it will be found impossible to determine retrospectively their intention at the material time with any exactness. This in itself is an indication of an abnormal mental state when the alleged crime was committed, irrespective of Bow the accused may appear when interviewed later. As well as issues arising under the McNaughton Rules or Diminished Responsibility to which intention is relevant, many offences require a specific intention to be proved so that the reporting psychiatrist should enquire into the accused's intention when preparing a court report.

There is a difference of opinion among psychiatrists in this country about the place of psychodynamics in their subject. They appear to be divided roughly into two groups, the “cons” and the “pros”. This paper considers what the attitude of psychiatrists ought to be to psychodynamics, and it does this by selecting and examining the epistemological standing of one example of psychodynamic work. The example is contained in a book by Dr David Malan, entitled Individual Psychotherapy and the Science of Psychodynamics. The examination of this example brings out in what ways the two groups, the cons and the pros, are both wrong and right; and the way in which, therefore, the current difference of attitude is inappropriate, but understandably connected with the uneasy situation in which psychiatrists find themselves.

According to a recent theory, schizophrenia is confined to people with a particular genetic predisposition and the disorder arises from a specific breakdown in the central part of the system that controls growth (Burch 1964, 1968). We call diseases of this general class autoaggressive. Their pathogenesis has two distinctive phases: initiation and development. Initiation, which is a purely random process, entails a form of spontaneous somatic gene mutation in growth-control stem cells.

In a former paper contributed to this Journal, containing retrospect of “Ulster Revivalism,” the writer took occasion to remark that the physical features of that extraordinary movement were to be considered not merely as an accompaniment or accident, but in reality as an essential and integral portion of it. This assertion will bear to be submitted to the most stringent test of fact, so far as its truth is concerned; and if borne out affords a most important and suggestive view of the entire subject; so much so indeed that its legitimate inferences will be found to throw an instructive reflex light on all past movements of the sort under consideration, as well as to afford some useful and practical considerations as regards the future. The intention of the present paper is to take a brief historical glance at the physical development of certain religious movements of this class, accompanied by an endeavour to trace these into that one which has just transpired, mainly for the purposes above indicated.

Paraphrasing Philip Larkin (1974), it might be said that British psychotherapy research ‘began/In nineteen sixty three’ – the year of publication of A Study of Brief Psychotherapy – ‘Between the end of the Chatterly ban/And the Beatles' first LP’.