In uncontrolled studies, several behavioural methods, including habit reversal, were said to be useful in writer's cramp. In this controlled study, 23 subjects with writer's cramp recruited from a neurology clinic were randomly allocated to five sessions over four weeks of either habit reversal training or a control treatment of relaxation training. Three subjects dropped out. Twenty patients (9 habit reversers, 11 controls) completed the trial up to three months follow-up. Outcome measures included observation of writing within the session, assessment of writing tasks completed at home, and blind ratings by an independent assessor. The results showed that habit reversal was no better than relaxation. Taking both treatments together, patients improved to three months follow-up on seven of nine measures, but remained substantially handicapped.

The present study extended an earlier report of USA states with high levels of schizophrenia also having high levels of multiple sclerosis (MS). A high correlation (r=0.81) between schizophrenia and MS rates in the districts of Italy was found.

Predicting who will relapse after behavioural or dynamic psychotherapy is important. A search for variables likely to predict individuals at risk of relapse was conducted in two groups of successfully treated stutterers. The most powerful predictors were the attainment of three goals by the last day of treatment; namely, skill mastery as evidenced by no stuttering, normal attitudes to communication, and an internalisation of the locus of control. Of the subjects who achieved these three goals, 97% maintained their improved speech in the long term. No subject who failed to achieve any of these goals remained fluent, while those who achieved one or two goals had intermediate outcomes. No single goal was necessary and none alone was sufficient to maintain improvement. Both actual and perceived mastery over stuttering appear to be important if the long-term outcome is to be satisfactory.

Two cases of homosexual erotomania are described and the recommended diagnostic criteria applied. The symptoms were found to be very similar to that occurring with heterosexual patients. The case for retaining erotomania as a distinct entity is discussed.

The experience of visual images appearing as well-described persons and objects, either familiar or unfamiliar to the patient, has frequently prompted psychiatric evaluation for apparent psychotic or schizophrenic disorders. A case of apparent psychotic depression is reported, in which the symptoms were due to the patient's experience of palinoptic images. Answers to particular questions in the initial interview can obviate the need for psychiatric consultation, as various consistencies have been reported in the non-psychiatric symptom of palinopsia.

A patient with recent-onset Parkinson's disease was tested for mood, physical disability, and cognition, before treatment and then during and after a period of levodopa-induced hypersexuality. The effects of different anti-Parkinsonian drugs on cognition and behaviour are described. The unique cognitive data from this case support the hypothesis that hypersexuality is a manifestation of enhanced libido and not frontal disinhibition.

An attempt was made to replicate in the USA sex differences reported for the seasonal distribution of suicide in the UK, Finland and Australia. No sex differences were found. Spring and late summer peaks were found for suicides by both males and females. The method of suicide was found to be an important factor in the seasonal distribution of the suicides of males and females.

A case of hypomania following cerebral anoxia due to cardiac arrest is reported. The concept of secondary affective disorder is reviewed and the need for early recognition of such cases is emphasised.

Delusional misidentification of people otherwise well known, referred to as the Capgras syndrome, has been described in both functional and organic conditions. Evidence is accruing to suggest that it would always be prudent to search vigorously for an organic aetiology.

A 14–year-old youth sustained an Injury to the left frontoparietal area, which was followed by evident change in personality and subsequently by an early-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed ventricular dilatation, slightly more marked in the left hemisphere, and cortical atrophy. Some implications of this case for research on schizophrenia itself are discussed.

Out-patient referrals to the Edinburgh adult psychiatric service between 1981 and 1985 were studied using the Edinburgh Psychiatric Case Register. The hypotheses that primary-care clinics have more patients with less severe illnesses and fewer patients with psychotic illnesses were confirmed.

A student of chemistry was treated for thallium poisoning. Seven months after his ingestion of thallium, intelligence tests were performed on the patient and his non-identical twin brother, who was of similar educational background. These indicated severe deterioration in intellectual function of the patient, particularly in memory and performance abilities. Tests 13 months after ingestion showed little general improvement.