This paper considers possible relationships between cognitive deficits and symptomatology in schizophrenia. It is argued that a combination of defective filtering and slowness in response selection results in a state of information overload in acute schizophrenia. The methods by which normal subjects adapt to experimenter-induced overload may therefore be relevant to aspects of schizophrenic behaviour. The considerable intra- and inter-subject variability in symptomatology of schizophrenic patients may represent differing adaptations to similar cognitive disturbance, such secondary abnormalities being prominent in chronic patients. Sections of the literature on acute-chronic differences are consistent with such a formulation, although one cannot infer intra-individual change from cross-sectional studies; there is a clear need for longitudinal investigations in this area. The preferred method of adaptation will be dependent on the severity of overload, the environment, and personality factors independent of the psychosis. The implications for the modification of schizophrenics' behavioural abnormalities by operant procedures are discussed.

The measurement of agreement between ratings of patient symptomatology by two or more psychiatrists is discussed. It is noted that coefficients which allow for possible chance agreement are to be preferred, but they involve assumptions about the way in which chance factors may operate. Assumptions which involve prior probabilities of the incidence of a symptom appear to be too stringent, and a new coefficient, called the RE coefficient, is recommended in which chance is assumed to operate in a purely random way. Binary scales are discussed in detail, but methods of dealing with scales of wider range are also referred to.

The reasons which led to the search in the brain for substances with morphine-like actions are discussed. Two pentapeptides, methionine-enkephalin and leucine-enkephalin, were isolated. The amino acid sequence of methionine-enkephalin occurs also in the pituitary prohormone β-lipotropin, of which longer fragments (endorphins) of up to 31 amino acids exhibit strong morphine-like action.

The physiological significance of these short and long opioid peptides is discussed, particularly with regard to their possible roles as neurotransmitter or neuromodulator.

With regard to the mechanisms involved in the development of tolerance to and dependence on opiates, the importance of interaction between the endogenous opioid peptides and the exogenous opiate alkaloids is stressed.

The possible therapeutic implications are discussed briefly.

This study is concerned with the roles of doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and social workers in psychiatric hospitals, as perceived by members of these occupations. Fifty-one respondents from three psychiatric hospitals were interviewed. Information was sought concerning the ways respondents evaluate (a) occupational importance, (b) occupational competence and (c) inter-group contacts. Most respondents regarded the occupational importance of psychiatrists as being higher than that of the non-medical occupations. There was, however, disagreement among the various groups regarding their specific roles and areas of occupational competence. Existing inter-group contacts were evaluated as much less satisfactory by non-medical staff than by psychiatrists.

Two groups, 10 subjects in each, one consisting of depressed patients and the others normal controls, ranked photographs of faces for two sets of six constructs. One set consisted of the critical constructs of the Bannister and Fransella grid test, while the other set of constructs were all related to affect. The depressed patients showed a higher intensity score for affective constructs than did the normal subjects. There was no difference for critical constructs. The affective intensity score decreased on two further retestings for the depressed group; for the normal group they remained reasonably constant. These results may shed light on the reorganization in construing aspects of affect which occurs with depression and its remission.

Patients suffering from obsessional personality disorder (anankasts) have been described as possessing ‘superior memories', because of the detailed precision of their accounts. At the same time, such classical phenomena as doubt, checking and rumination imply faulty recall. This paradox is discussed, and some predictions drawn from a hypothesis regarding the cognitive characteristics of obsessional disorder. Findings are presented which indicate that, by comparison with matched psychiatric controls, anankasts do not excel in the long-term recall of factual information or meaningful anecdotal material. But they show the following mnemonic features:

(a) Superiority of immediate memory span, reflecting high levels of attention.

(b) Superior recall of ambiguous anecdotal material, reflecting a tendency to the pointless ‘rehearsal’ of such material.

(c) Weak redintegration in personal reminiscence.

It is suggested that anankasts' doubts about their remembering refer not so much to the correctness of what is being recalled as to the quality of the recalling itself.

It is argued that obsessional indecision reflects a formal cognitive characteristic, and should therefore be detectable in slower performance of insignificant, neutral tasks. The obsessional will not be handicapped in structured tasks requiring concentration and a deductive approach, but he will be slower in less structured tasks requiring a predominantly inductive approach. Results from two neutral (numerical) tasks support the predictions.