In recent years the development of effective anti-depressant drugs has led to much controversy and uncertainty regarding the treatment of depressive states. Indications for the primary use of E.C.T. remain obscure, whilst choice of drug seems to be determined by current personal preference rather than by any specific rationale. If reliable prognostic formulations—and so, rational lines of treatment—are to be developed, there is an urgent need for the accumulation of data from controlled trials rather than a continuing spate of “1”.Amitriptyline, a new anti-depressant chemically resembling both imipramine and chlorpromazine has, in a blind controlled study carried out by the authors, been shown to be significantly superior to imipramine in the treatment of female patients between 30 and 70 years of age, hospitalized with primary depressive states (Burt, Gordon, Holt and Hordern, 1962). The findings in the first 74 patients were unexpectedly so much in favour of amitriptyline that to confirm them the trial was extended to include a further 65 patients conforming to the same criteria; but as two died, the total sample consisted of 137 female patients. The size of this sample facilitated (1) an investigation of the phenomenology of depressive states in women and (2) a study of the significance of a number of prognostic variables in relation to the outcome of treatment with amitriptyline and imipramine.

The MhlPl profiles of 295 short-term prisoners undergoing presentence evaluations were cluster-analyzed, resulting in four distinct groups.These groups differed in IQ, on recidivism-related characteristics reflected in a Base Expectancy score and an estimate of extensiveness of arrest record, and on type of psychiatric-psychological recommendat~on made to the referring courts. However, they did not differ on age, educat~onal level, or the severity of their offenses. In comparing these results with those of other typological investigations of offender groups, it was tentatively concluded that these short-term prisoners being considered for probation seem less emotionally disturbed than those serving sentences for custodial or other purposes.

Since its introduction in 1938, electroconvulsive therapy (E.C.T.) has shown itself to be a dramatically effective, unusually safe treatment for severe depressive states (“melancholias”, “endogenous” or “psychotic” depressions). Nevertheless, it is repugnant to many patients and psychiatrists, produces a troublesome, if transient, amnesia—especially in older individuals—and is occasionally complicated by fractures and dislocations as well as by anaesthetic and relaxant misadventures. Worst of all, as early studies showed, of the 80–90 per cent. of severe depressives who respond to E.C.T., some 30 per cent. relapse (Huston and Locher, 1948 a, b). Recent work suggests that the rate of relapse may often be higher still—thus of 94 per cent. of a group of patients who had responded to E.C.T., Kiloh and Ball (1961) reported that 46 per cent. had relapsed during the six months following the cessation of treatment. For these reasons, the trend to chemotherapy initiated by the advent of effective antidepressant compounds in 1957 continues to develop, and signs are becoming manifest that within a few years E.C.T. may be replaced by pharmacotherapy.

Clinical and statistical predictions of six categories of recidivism among 198 adult male felony probationers were compared and combined, both before and after correcting for the restricted range of the predictor vanables The statistical composite consistently outperformed decision makers for the undifferentiated recidivism catena of arrest and conviction The opposite state of affairs was seen to exist for all three indices of violent recidivism, but only after correction for restriction of range The combination of both variables tended not to produce significant increases m criterion variance compared to the superior predictor alone, the major exception being incarceration for any offense Decision makers performed best when forecasting violent criminal conduct that resulted m incarceration, and this contingency table was subjected to a detailed analysis of the outcomes of prediction This included two methods of estimating the probable probationary performance of 141 members of the initial sample who were sentenced to pnson and consideration of the utilities associated with false positive and false negative errors Partially because of the seeming impossibility of achieving perfect prediction, it was concluded that there is a need for decision-making guidelines that include only those cnminological vanables that can serve the dual purpose of predicting recidivism and indicating which offenders, because of the social harm for which they have been responsible, are the most deserving of impnsonment as punishment

The MMPI profiles of 359 correctional officer applicant were cluster analyzed, which resulted in the identification of five relatively homogeneous subgroups. While MMPI performance was not related to later events in the correctional careers of the Ss, certain similarities were noted between the officer group and two samples of inmates previously studied in a comparable fashion. In this respect, although the officers manifested generally lower profile elevations than inmates, configural similarities were noted between the average inmate and the officer profiles, and partial overlap was seen between the profile types identified in the two groups. The implications of the findings for occupationally adaptive and maladaptive correctional officer behavior were discussed.