A family with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease in three siblings is described. The inheritance of Alzheimer's disease in this pedigree is consistent with autosomal dominant inheritance.

A 12-year-old Chinese boy had a diagnosis of infantile autism at infancy that was finally confirmed as classic phenylketonuria at adolescence. This treatable inborn metabolic disease should be investigated in cases of apparent autism, especially where mass neonatal screening of inborn metabolic diseases has not been established.

The concept of deterioration has always been central to schizophrenia, and forms a cornerstone of current diagnostic and conceptual thinking (e.g. DSM–III; Crow, 1985; Weinberger, 1987). Recently, there has been a renewal of interest in the deficits of schizophrenia, with attempts to identify, classify, and measure the relevant abnormalities. According to current thinking (Crow 1985; Wing, this volume) negative symptoms i.e. deficits in emotion, volition and social interaction, represent a distinctive cluster of impairments with aetiological, prognostic and therapeutic significance. Verification of this view of course requires reliable and valid measures of negative symptoms.

A 27-year-old woman with a post-partum psychosis developed NMS which proved difficult to diagnose because of the organic features of the presenting illness. Possible contributory factors to the development of NMS included exhaustion, a non-specific viral illness, and rapid loading with haloperidol.

Of three siblings in a family, one brother and one sister have both tyrosinase-negative oculocutaneous albinism and a psychotic disorder indistinguishable from schizophrenia. The two disorders may associate within families through genetic linkage or a failure of neurotransmitter homoeostasis.

Hypotheses on the relationship of schizophrenia and family variables have changed considerably over the last 15 years: whereas speculations on the causal role of familial interaction for the onset of schizophrenic psychosis previously dominated the field of psychological theorising and psychotherapy (Bateson et al, 1956), it was not possible to confirm these theories empirically. In accordance with the research on Expressed Emotion (EE), a shift in emphasis to the influence of family variables on the further course of the illness has taken place. As a consequence, promising new techniques have been developed for the prevention or postponement of relapse.

Tardive dystonia is a rare movement disorder. We outline the development of tardive dystonia in a young schizopohrenic, and demonstrate the importance of applying a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of any putative successful treatment.

The differential diagnosis of an athetoid arm movement in a 54-year-old lady with a psychiatric history of affective disorder was discussed. Further investigations after the conference yielded a firm diagnosis that unified both physical and mental symptoms.

A middle-aged woman with a recurrent depressive illness showed worsening of her tardive dyskinesia during the depressive phases, with improvement on remission.

A case of de Cléambault syndrome, secondary to paranoid schizophrenia, in a Saudi woman is documented. Cultural factors were found ineffective in modifying or preventing symptoms. Erotomania appeared to arise from the same dynamics as those of the Western patients and to follow the same pattern.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is extremely rare among mentally retarded people. We report here a case of a mildly mentally retarded woman who exhibits contamination obsessions, compulsive hand-washing rituals, and avoidance.

A case of pericentric inversion chromosome 9 with an associated personality disorder is reported. There is justification for a more widespread cytogenetic screening of psychiatric disorders of this type.

A typical case of NMS and its successful treatment with bromocriptine is described. The authors noticed an inverse relationship between the process of recovery from NMS and the pre-existing psychotic illness.

The current wisdom in psychiatric rehabilitation suggests that social and instrumental skills training combined with judicious neuroleptic therapy, prosthetic environments, and assertive case management confers the greatest degree of protection from relapse while promoting an optimal quality of life for patients suffering serious and long-term mental illness.

We report a patient with an anteriorly palced tumour of the corpus callosum presenting with primarily depressive symptoms, without any associated neurological abnormality. It is important to be alert to the possibility of an organic cause to depression.

A case of delusional parasitosis is presented in which a patient with classic symptoms of six years' duration responded to pimozide. Similarly chronic cases may be responsive to pimozide.

The report describes three unrelated Ashkenazi Jewish women with adult GM2 gangliosidosis in whom mental symptoms were prominent, mimicking different psychiatric disorders, and thus delaying accurate diagnosis.

A five-year-old girl presented with mania and adenoma sebaceum. Later she developed grand mal seizures, and EEG revealed a prominent right temporal focus. It is important to consider tuberous sclerosis as aetiologically related to mood disorders.