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We describe the results of a follow-up study on patients with hysteria using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to evaluate the multiple complaints of these patients. MMPIs were obtained from 29 women with primary affective disorder and 37 women with Briquet's syndrome as part of a follow-up study of the St. Louis clinic 500. Patients with Briquet's syndrome were significantly less consistent and logical in answering MMPIs and were more likely to emphasize personal psychopathological conditions. They reported many more symptoms in many more problem areas than did women with primary affective disorder. Patients with Briquet's syndrome reported significantly more somatic symptoms and psychological/interpersonal problems than did the depressed group. It was suggested that such patients mimic multiple psychiatric and somatic disorders.

Comparisons were made between alcoholics and nonalcoholics in a sample of Danish adoptees (mean age 30) and it was found that the alcoholics, as children, were more often hyperactive, truant, antisocial, shy, aggressive, disobedient, and friendless. The literature suggesting a relationship between the hyperactive child syndrome and subsequent alcoholism is reviewed, as well as a possible relationship between these disorders and antisocial behavior. The adoptive parent of the two groups did not differ with regard to socioeconomic class, psychopathology, or drinking histories. However, 10 of the 14 alcoholics had biological parents who were alcoholic, with no known alcoholism among the biological parents of the nonalcoholics. As adults, the alcoholics differed from the nonalcoholics only with regard to drinking history, use of drugs, and overt expression of anger.