Multivariate analyses are an aid to, not a substitute for critical thinking in the area of data analysis. Meaningful results can only be produced by these methods if careful consideration is given to questions of sample size, variable type, variable distribution etc., and accusations of subjectivity in interpretation can only be overcome by replication.

The computer revolution has produced many problems for statisticians, not least of which is the ease with which experimenters may access packages of programs for multivariate analysis, and so bypass a ‘difficult’ (by which is meant one who will not do simply as he is told) statistician. Of course there are many abuses of univariate statistical methods. Here, however, the abuses are not likely to lead to such seriously misleading results as in the multivariate case.

Perhaps a major cause of the continuing misuse of statistical methods is the insistence of many journal editors in psychology and related areas, on articles being laced with multivariate analyses, and on encouraging the pedantic use of significance levels, i.e. the inevitable p < —, as if such inclusions lent an air of respectability to their journal which it might not otherwise have had. Research workers in these fields would be better encouraged to devote more time to an initial screening of their data using simple graphical techniques, to ensure that their data are at least approximately suitable for more complicated multivariate analyses.

Psychiatric diagnosis in the elderly has been examined in order to extract the information which leads to later modification of the diagnosis. Initial diagnoses of neuroses and toxic states were least stable, 14 out of 29 changing to a different category. Information from relatives and further interviews contributed most to the modification of the initial diagnosis, though affective and neurotic syndromes were particularly susceptible to change resulting from conceptual differences, and dementia to change consequent on physical examination.

It is concluded that an adequate initial interview of a patient and his next of kin will achieve a diagnosiswhich iscorrectin itsmajor categoryon 95 per cent ofoccasions.

The original aim of Industrial Therapy Units, which exist in most psychiatric hospitals, was to preserve or re-establish outside interests and standards by providing work of an industrial nature (Wadsworth, 1962), but often they merely offer the patient activity and occupation. The staff of the Industrial Therapy Unit at Clifton Hospital were concerned about some patients who benefited very little from attendance, and they devised a project to improve this. Qualitatively the patients appeared to benefit but the staff were unable to measure this. They therefore approached the Psychology Department, and a structured programme was designed with emphasis on measurement and control of variables. There was very little to be found in the literature on experiments in an Industrial Therapy setting (see references).

Psychiatric problems were assessed in two groups of adoptees by interviewing the adopting parents. One group of 59 adoptees, the ‘experimental’, were born of psychiatrically disturbed biological parents; the other group, the ‘control’ of 54 adoptees, had psychiatrically ‘normal’ biological parents. Both groups had been separated from biological parents at birth.

The incidence of psychiatric conditions requiring professional care was significantly higher in the experimentais than in the controls (37 per cent vs. 14 per cent). In the experimental group more males than females were disturbed (59 per cent vs. 30 per cent). Most of the excess of disordered males were diagnosed hyperactive. There was some evidence of correlation of the type of psychiatric diagnosis of the biological parent with that of the adoptee.

Mental and psychomotor speed scores were obtained for three affectively ill groups of bipolar depression, unipolar depression and bipolar mania, and three corresponding recovered groups.

Comparisons were made among ill groups, among recovered groups, and between ill and recovered groups for each illness type. The following conclusions were drawn:

1. 1. Though manic patients solve problems quicker than those of either depressed group, they do not differ much from normals.

2. 2. With stress to work faster, the patients in the two depressed groups can quicken their speed of work and bring it up to the level of the manic patients, even though the latter also increase their speed.

3. 3. On a psychomotor speed task, the bipolar depressives are significantly slower than the manics and the unipolar depressives, who do not differ. ‘Internal distraction’ causes a slight increase in speed in all three groups, with no significant difference, but ‘external distraction’ speeds up the bipolar groups and slows down the unipolar depressives, resulting in significant differences between the bipolars on the one hand and the unipolars on the other.

4. 4. All recovered groups perform at the same level on all measures.

5. 5. Comparison between ill and recovered groups seems to indicate that a manic illness does not affect mental or psychomotor speed significantly when tested objectively. Unipolar depression also does not seem to affect speed functions very significantly, but bipolar depression does decrease both mental and psychomotor speed significantly. Thus only bipolar depressive patients seem to show true retardation, and manic patients do not show the opposite of retardation.

The basic controversy in criminology at present is that between the psychiatric school and the sociological school. Members of the latter school recognize that psychogenic factors must be taken into account in the explanation of criminal behaviour, and members of the psychiatric school have recognized the importance of social and cultural conditions. But there is disagreement on the extent to which ‘Personality’ and ‘Culture’ should be emphasized in criminological theories.

The recommendations on postgraduate training made by the World Health Organization, the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust and the Royal Medico-Psychological Association are examined in the light of modern concepts of educational objectives. In this country no well defined, specific, assessable and detailed objectives have yet been formulated for postgraduate training in psychiatry.

For the past decade there has been extensive interest in the hypothesized association between brain amine function and disturbances in mood (either depression or mania). The more influential theories have postulated that clinical depression is associated with a decrease in aminergic function (either norepinephrine, dopamine or serotonin) while mania is associated with increased activity of these amines. This essentially ‘bipolar’ approach has tended to dominate most studies in this area. Evidence supporting these theories has been extensively reviewed (11, 61, 70) and need not be detailed here.

Premenstrual tension (PMT) has hitherto not been accurately defined. The term refers to a cluster of symptoms, both psychological and physical, which appear episodically in relation to the phases of the menstrual cycle—either strictly in the premenstruum (Rees, 1953), or also at other times, such as at ovulation (Dalton, 1964). Most previous studies of the syndrome have been ‘retrospective’, i.e. women have been asked to report the presence of PMT during a previous cycle. McCance, Luff and Widdowson (1937) and Altman, Knowles and Bull (1941), who required their subjects to chart mood state daily, pointed to a discrepancy between the frequency of the condition as reported in studies using retrospective questioning and in their own findings. It is hardly surprising that there is controversy concerning the prevalence of a condition which is so poorly defined as is PMT.

Although psychiatrists trained in the United States and the British Isles pick out the same areas of psychopathology, American psychiatrists display a tendency, greater than British psychiatrists, to use high ratings of pathology when asked to rate a videotaped clinical interview (Kendell et al., 1971; Sharpe et al., 1974). Within the British Isles Maudsley-trained psychiatrists rated lower than psychiatrists trained at other centres (Copeland et al., 1971).

This paper reports the initial analysis of a series of observations of a number of depressed patients communicating with their spouses and with a third party. This is part of a larger study which arose out of our dissatisfaction with the traditional ways of thinking about depressed patients. By and large there is general agreement about the people who are called ‘depressed’; there are constellations of symptoms and signs which can be evaluated by using one of the many rating scales for depression which have a degree of reliability and consistency. However, we feel that most of the thinking which underlies these efforts is based on presuppositions which would place ‘the depression’ within the patient, that is to say that there is something wrong within the patient which causes the symptoms and gives rise to the signs. These views are reductionist in character and we have by contrast attempted to reexamine certain aspects of depression using non-reductionist ideas.

The educational attainment of 100 school-phobic youngsters was compared to that of 100 other psychiatric patients, using the reading quotient as the main measure. Age and IQ were allowed for. RQs were, on average, higher in the school phobic group than in the other subjects, except in a small number of younger children of high IQ. Additional comparisons with another group of psychiatric patients and with the general population, using regression equations, failed to provide any evidence of poor educational attainment in school phobia.

Those interested in the family backgrounds of delinquents have paid a good deal of attention to family size and position in family (see Mannheim, 1965, for a review), but little to the ratio of brothers to sisters. This is surprising, since it can be argued that boys who come from families with a preponderance of brothers may be particularly at risk of delinquency; for example, their parents might find it difficult to control them; they might be more likely to play out on the streets and thus have greater opportunities for delinquency; and, since delinquency is a predominantly male activity, they might have a greater chance of being set a bad example through the behaviour of their brothers.

The main questions of diagnosis and classification of depressive illness put forward by Sir Aubrey Lewis in the 30's are still under discussion. Despite the many published clinical studies of affective illness, there remain—as recently stressed by Klerman (1971)—problems requiring further description and investigation.

The Marke-Nyman Temperament Scale (MNTS) is a questionnaire based on Sjöbring's theory of personality structure.

The function of religion in human society is complex. The part played by religion in psychiatric disorders is even more obscure. Previous literature and theories are divided into two groups: one school believes that intense religiosity is a symptom-complex indicative of psychiatric disorder, while the opposing view is that religious belief in some way acts as a defence mechanism protecting the individual and his psyche.

The present study of 50 Jehovah's Witnesses admitted to the Mental Health Service facilities of Western Australia suggests that members of this section of the community are more likely to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital than the general population. Furthermore, followers of the sect are three times more likely to be diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and nearly four times more likely from paranoid schizophrenia than the rest of the population at risk.

These findings suggest that being a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses faith may be a risk factor predisposing to a schizophrenic illness. Further studies would be interesting in investigating whether pre-psychotic people are more likely to join the sect than normal people and what part (if any) membership has in bringing about such a breakdown.

During 1973 there were 169,362 abortions notified to the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health. In a leading article the British Medical Journal (1973) acknowledged that ‘bald statistics cannot help to answer the important question of the nature of the physical and emotional sequelae of termination of pregnancy’. The article called for careful prospective studies to assess such sequelae. This paper is a report of a short-term prospective study of the psychiatric sequelae.

The technique of measuring penile erection is the most valid assessment of sexual arousal in males (Zuckerman, 1971). The stimuli used during assessments of sexual preference with this technique have for the most part, been still or moving pictures of nude single females and males (Freund, 1963; McConaghy, 1967; Barlow, Becker, Leitenberg and Agras, 1970). Recently Abel, Barlow, Blanchard and Mavissakalian (in press) have shown that erotic films produce significantly greater penile circumference changes than either slides or audiotaped descriptions in homosexual males. Similarly, Sandford (1974) showed the superiority of films over slides in heterosexual males and suggested that sexual activity rather than nakedness per se may be the more important in producing sexual arousal. The main purpose of this study was to determine what sexual activities produce significantly different sexual responses in homosexual and heterosexual males.

Since the discovery of adenosine 3'5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP) by Sutherland and Rall (1958), the concept has evolved that this nucleotide acts as the second messenger substance for many neurotransmitter and hormone-induced responses (Sutherland, Robison and Butcher, 1968). Cyclic AMP occurs in high concentration in the brain. Cyclic AMP is functionally closely related, and possibly fundamental, to the action of catecholamines and serotonin, both of which have been implicated in the amine hypothesis of depression (Granville-Grossman, 1971). Cyclic AMP is formed from ATP by the action of an enzyme adenyl cyclase, and it is degraded by the enzyme cyclic-AMP-phosphodiesterase (Lancet, Editorial, 1970) both of which occur in brain.

Although there have been many accounts of depression in medical in-patients, there have been relatively few systematic studies of its prevalence and features. With respect to prevalence, most studies have concerned single medical diagnoses (4) or have been based on ward referrals to psychiatrists, in which referral practices may be of more importance than actual occurrences (10). Schwab et al. (12, 13) studied prevalence in 153 medical patients. They used multiple rating scales and compared depressed and non-depressed patients to investigate aetiological factors. Stewart et al. (14), who carried out a smaller study, also compared symptoms of five medical depressives with those of manic depressives.