The concentrations of total and free plasma tryptophan were measured in 12 unipolar depressed patients before and after a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and before and after single ECTs during the course of treatment. Eleven patients undergoing diagnostic cystoscopy served as controls to examine the acute effect of anaesthesia. Total and free plasma tryptophan concentrations in the depressed patients were not significantly different from control values and were not changed by the course of ECT. Free plasma tryptophan varied considerably within individual patients. Total plasma tryptophan was reduced acutely by ECT/anaesthesia in the depressed patients (P < 0·05) and by anaesthesia in the cystoscopy controls (P < 0·01). Free plasma tryptophan was not significantly altered. This reduction in total plasma tryptophan could be secondary to an effect of thiopentone on albumin binding of tryptophan.

Semi-structured interviews concerning various aspects of mental health were carried out with 13 employed and 13 unemployed haemophiliacs 20–35 years old. Significant differences in patients' responses were related to their employment status and the degree of severity of haemophilia. Unemployed patients with milder forms of haemophilia appeared to be least adjusted and suffered most from psychosomatic symptoms.

Re-analysis is made of the data from a recent study purporting toshow an attentional deficit in the siblings of schizophrenics when compared with a matched control group. The re-analysis fails to support the previously reported levels of statistical reliability and may question the inferences to be drawn from the study.

The self-administered, 14-item Bortner questionnaire was used to characterize the Type A behaviour of the members of a group of families selected from 3 general practice registers. The questionnaire was found to be easy to complete and showed no systematic variation on repeat administration. The rank order of the 14 items was similar in the men, women and children of the study (and in a sample of Belgian men where the Bortner questionnaire had been validated against other measures of Type A behaviour). There was a social class gradient among the men but not among the women or children, and there was no correlation of this behaviour characteristic between parents and their children. This simple questionnaire may thus be an acceptable way of characterizing Type A behaviour which, it is suggested, might develop during adult life in response to occupational experiences.

It has been proposed that a high level of agreement between informants‘ reports about events and happenings (‘objective’ data) is a sound basis for establishing (a) the validity of the measure which is based on the reports, and (b) the nature of objective reality. In this paper it is argued that such agreement may not be an adequate basis for validation since the accounts may not be independent. Likewise, low across-interview agreement may not signify the inaccuracy of either report because of the phenomenon of ‘object-variation’. It is concluded that, although this method of validation can be significantly improved, it should be supplemented, wherever possible, by other approaches.

Eleven patients with tardive dyskinesia were treated with lithium carbonate in a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover study. No significant effect of lithium on either tardive dyskinesia or blood prolactin concentrations was demonstrated, but 5 patients developed pseudo-Parkinsonian features.