Standardization of nomenclature and terminology used in the field of mental health has been one of the main goals of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Mental Health Programme among recent activities undertaken to achieve this goal, is the development of definition and guidelines accompanying the chapter dealing with mental disorders in the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and of a set of instruments for the assessment of mental disorders. To enhance common understanding and uniformity of usage of the terms embedded in the classification and instruments and to facilitate their use in different cultures and settings, a series of lexica and glossaries has also been produced by WHO. The article describes the basic characteristics of the Lexicon of psychiatric and mental health terms, 2nd edition; Lexicon of alcohol and drug terms; Lexicon of crosscultural terms in mental health; SCAN glossary; and the ICD-10 symptom glossary for mental disorders.

On the basis of 24 maternity hospital records, the current study investigated the validity of maternal recall and the relationship of maternal infections during pregnancy and obstetric complications (OCs) to different diagnostic subgroups of endogenous psychoses on which we reported previously in this journal. Maternal recall showed good agreement to maternity hospital records in the Lewis and Murray scale (ϑ = 0.74). With regard to infectious diseases during pregnancy maternal recall and records showed a weaker, but also good correlation (ϑ = 0.18). Psychoses with low genetic loading had more OCs than psychoses with high genetic loading. Maternal infectious diseases, especially during the fourth or fifth month of gestation, were significantly allocated to Leonhard's systematic schizophrenias. Data from maternity hospital records support our report that infectious diseases during midgestation and further perinatal complications seem to be important etiologic factors in systematic forms of schizophrenia without marked familial loading.

Until now, the instruments for the clinical evaluation of impulsivity have relied essentially on either personality inventories or to a lesser extent on specific questionnaires. Therefore this paper presents the preliminary results of a new rating scale: the Impulsivity Rating Scale (IRS). This is a 7-item hetero-evaluation of impulsivity based on the behaviour of the patient in usual life situations. The administration of the scale is easy and short: 15 minutes. The IRS was tested in five different population samples: 31 impulsive inpatients, 36 adults with major depressive episode, 15 healthy control subjects, 56 smokers before and after one week of tobacco withdrawal, and 47 adolescent depressed inpatients before and four weeks after antidepressant treatment. The results show good construct validity, good concurrent validity, good inter-rater reliability and sensitivity to change. A threshold of 8 for the total score (range 0 to 21) gives good specificity and sensitivity. The principal component analysis shows the existence of a main factor composed of all items, with lower correlation for two items which may belong to a second factor needing further investigations.

Data from elderly suicides was obtained from two previous studies of community suicides in two localities of Northern Spain, namely, Oviedo between 1983 and 1990, and Gijón between 1975 and 1986. Data from the two localities were obtained by the revision of court register cases. A retrospective study on elderly suicide (over 60 years of age) was carried out. Mean annual specific rates for the elderly in Oviedo for 1982–1991 were 37.7 (58.1 for men and 23.3 for women) and for those in Gijón for the period 1975–1986, 23.4 (40 for men and 11.5 for women). A marked increase was seen in the rates for Gijón from the first (1975–1978) to the last period (1983–1986). This was particularly marked in men. The greatest increase in the rate was seen in men over 75 from Gijón and in those between 1970–1974 from Oviedo. In contrast a decrease was seen in the 65–69 age group rates for both men and women. A tendency for the rates to increase was seen but no important increase for elderly suicides was evident.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate emotional disturbances and psychopathological symptoms in early stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Seventy-one homosexual subjects, positive to HIV and two groups of HIV-negative subjects (32 homosexuals and 26 heterosexuals) were evaluated in a semi-structured interview by two trained raters. The results showed the presence of emotional perturbations already in asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals even in the absence of caracterized depression and/or anxiety. This emotional deficit seemed to be more important in more advanced stages of the disease. Depressive and anxious symptoms appeared to be slightly but significantly present in both groups of homosexual men. This emotional deficit could be the reflect of an adaptative process to the threatening consequences of HIV-infection. Emotional perturbations, even mild should not be neglected, because their reduction contributes to the psychological well being of HIV-positive subjects.

It has been suggested that low serum cholesterol interferes with brain serotonergic functioning, which results in increased suicidal and aggressive tendencies. To test this hypothesis we investigated the relationship between serum cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglyceride levels, and serotonin uptake by blood platelets in 17 healthy men aged 39.5 ± 10.2 years. Platelet serotonin uptake and serum lipids were assayed concomitantly for each individual. Serum cholesterol levels and other serum lipid levels did not correlate with serotonin uptake by platelets at the concentration of 2 × 10−5 M (a concentration within the maximal uptake capacity range). The results indicate no influence of cholesterol on serotonin uptake, as opposed to some investigators who suggested that high risk of suicide and aggressiveness in hypocholesterolemic individuals is related to impaired serotonin transport.

The clinical features and symptoms of postpartum psychoses are presented in relation to the classification according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) and the concept of “puerperal psychosis”. A number of symptoms, ie confusional symptoms, depersonalization, misrecognitions and the “kaleidoscopic” picture are shown to be prominent features. In schizoaffective disorder and unspecified functional psychosis a higher frequency of confusional symptoms, misrecognitions, thematic delusions and a “kaleidoscopic” course of illness was found compared to schizophrenia, mania or depression. The findings of this study support a special status for postpartum psychosis and suggest a link with the concept of cycloid psychosis. In the management of postpartum mental disorder the risk of child-directed aggression, suicide and sudden relapses into psychosis requires special attention.