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Aims: The relationship between alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied in 147 male former members of the civilian resistance against the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II. Methods: The subjects were interviewed at home. Measures included rating of current PTSD and a self-report measure of smoking and alcohol use. Results: The weekly alcohol consumption reported by veterans was substantially below that of the general population. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in self-reported alcohol consumption between veterans with and without current PTSD. Cigarette smoking, however, was more prevalent in those with current PTSD. Conclusions: The absence in these veterans of a correlation between PTSD and alcohol consumption is contrary to the results of most studies on this subject. It may be related to the exclusion from organized resistance activities of people prone to the over-consumption of alcohol. It is hypothesized that, in trauma survivors, current substance use is associated with peri-traumatic patterns of psychological tension-reduction modes.

The tetracyclic antibiotic minocycline appears to have positive results when added to the the treatment prescribed for persistent symptoms of schizophrenia.To provide an overview of the literature on minocycline and schizophrenia.PubMed, up to September 2013, was scanned for articles relating to minocycline and schizophrenia.We found seven case reports with regard to the use of minocycline as an additive in the treatment of persistent schizophrenia. Furthermore, an open-label study and two randomised placebo-controlled studies regarding this addition were published. Using minocycline may add to the improvement of negative symptoms and cognition in patients with schizophrenia.It is concluded, albeit somewhat cautiously, that minocycline may be helpful in treating negative and cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia.

The fact that more and more interviews are being conducted on the phone suggests that phone interviews are just as valid as face-to-face interviews.To discuss the literature on the assessment of psychiatric patients with depressive disorder when there is no personal contact between psychiatrists and patient.We searched the literature using PubMed and the snowball method so that we could make comparisons between face-to-face interviews and phone interviews. We only consulted the literature that dealt with the diagnosis of depressive symptoms.Some advantages are to be gained from diagnosis by telephone, but in the case of psychiatric diagnoses there are considerable disadvantages. The absence of visual cues is a major impediment to accurate diagnosis.Psychiatrists need to come face-to-face with their patients. The face-to-face interview is still ‘the gold standard' for making diagnoses in psychiatry.

Measuring (extrapyramidal) psychotic disorders often is a highly relevant part of clinical research into the course and treatment of movement disorders. Traditionally these disorders have always been assessed on the basis of a well-known set of rating scales. The limitations and shortcomings of these scales are discussed in the article. It is argued that a new standard instrument needs to be developed for the measurement of movement disorders. The SADIMOD can be regarded as a good starting point for the development of such an instrument.

In a group of elderly males who had been exposed to excessive stress during World War II, 56% of whom suffered from current post-traumatic stress disorder, a significant association was found between snoring and the occurrence of anxiety dreams, independent of the use of sedatives, antidepressants, smoking and alcohol and coffee consumption. Anxiety dream incidence was highest when snoring was accompanied by respiratory pauses. The underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms are thought to be hypercapnia and autonomic-vegetative arousal, resulting from obstructive sleep apneic episodes in heavy snoring. Polysomnographic sleep studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.