Physique, personality and mental illness in the Southern Chinese

Studies on the relationship between physical constitution, personality and mental illness have been mostly confined to the Caucasian race. There has been no investigation, to our knowledge, of Oriental subjects, though a number of investigations of body type, composition and physiological functions without relation to mental aspects have been carried out on them. It is clearly important that work in this field should be extended to include subjects of different racial composition and socio-cultural background. The intercorrelations found between physical and mental characteristics in Caucasians may not apply to others.

Thiopropazate hydrochloride in persistent dyskinesia

Thiopropazate (Dartalan) was found to be significantly more effective than a placebo in relieving dyskinesia in 23 patients with functional psychosis and persistent dyskinesia associated with prolonged phenothiazine therapy. Each patient whose dyskinesia had persisted unchanged for at least one month after phenothiazine withdrawal received thiopropazate by mouth for three weeks and the placebo for a similar period. Patients were evaluated before the trial, at three weeks, and at six weeks.The drug also improved psychotic behaviour. Possible side effects, which were generally mild, were noted in eight patients, of whom six had Parkinsonism and four drowsiness. None had side effects while on the placebo.The findings indicate that thiopropazate is of value in persistent dyskinesia associated with prolonged phenothiazine intake-a condition hitherto unresponsive to other treatment. Further research is required to determine the long-term effectiveness of the drug.