PREFRONTAL LEUKOTOMY: A FIVE-YEAR CONTROLLED STUDY

One hundred and eighty-three patients who had received prefrontal leukotomy over a period of several years were compared with a closely similar group who had not undergone the operation. No significant differences in rate of hospital discharge after a five-year follow-up period were found between the two groups. The groups showed no consistent difference in outcome in relation to diagnosis, chronicity vs. intermittency of illness, heredity, education, family attitude, premorbid adjustment, or degree of insight on the part of the patients. It is concluded that prefrontal leukotomy does not produce any rate of remission significantly beyond that to be expected without the operation.

THE USE OF LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE (LSD) IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

One hundred of 150 patients with non-psychotic functional psychiatric disorders were benefited by the use of LSD psychotherapy. The dosage of LSD employed was 25 to 2000 micrograms intramuscularly per session for from one to 10 sessions. On this regimen four patients became psychotic and required electroconvulsive therapy. None were permanently harmed.Indications for and contraindications to this form of treatment and a procedure involving a doctor and a nurse as co-therapists are discussed. In particular, LSD is considered to permit "perceptualization of the transference".LSD possibly extends the scope and value of the psychotherapeutic approach in such cases.

MANIC DEPRESSIVE PSYCHOSIS: SOME NEW AETIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

My purpose in this article is to draw attention to certain statistical features of manic depressive psychosis and to inquire into their possible aetiological significance.

I shall show that some of these statistical characteristics are very similar to comparable aspects of diseases that are widely considered to be autoimmune. Although it does not follow than manic depressive psychosis is an auto immune disorder, the parallels and coincidences are perhaps sufficiently striking to warrant further investigation.

AMITRIPTYLINE VERSUS IMIPRAMINE IN DEPRESSIVE PSYCHOSES

Imipramine and amitriptyline have each been tested by controlled trials and have been shown to be effective (Garry et al., 1963; Skarbek et al., 1962; Ball et al., 1959; Leyberg et al., 1959, and many others). Their uses have been discussed in articles in the “Today's Drugs” series in the British Medical Journal for 1959 and 1961 respectively. The literature has been summarized by Burt et al. (1962).