Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is described following a road traffic accident in which the patient suffered a severe head injury. The stress reaction was associated with intrusive thoughts and avoidance of cognitive and physical events associated with consequences of the accident. The condition was successfuly treated by behavioural intervention. It seems clear that PTSD can occur even where there is loss of consciousness and organic amnesia for the event and its immediate sequelae.

Specific inhibitors of 5-HT reuptake are reported to have lower preconvulsive activity than other antidepressants. A patient with post-traumatic epilepsy who had remained fit-free for many years until she was given the 5-HT reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine is reported. Changes in serotonergic function may play a more widespread role in the pathophysiology of seizure disorders than hitherto thought.

The head circumference of a long-stay population with schizophrenia was compared with that of a population with dementia, matched for sex and year of birth. Schizophrenics had a smaller head circumference, even after correction for height and weight. This confirms earlier but inconclusive and controversial reports, and might be taken as supporting a neurodevelopmental hypothesis of the aetiology of schizophrenia.