Glen Smith

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical factors associated with the suicide of psychiatric in-patients

Large M, Smith G, Sharma S, Nielssen O, Singh SP. Systematic review and meta‐analysis of the clinical factors associated with the suicide of psychiatric in‐patients.

Homicide due to mental disorder in England and Wales over 50 years

BACKGROUND It has been stated that rates of homicide due to mental disorder are constant over time. AIMS To examine whether there were changes in the rates of homicide due to mental disorder over time, and whether changes in these rates were associated with changes in the rates of other homicides in England and Wales. METHOD Examination of four sets of official homicide statistics from England and Wales from 1946 to 2004. RESULTS The rate of total homicide and the rate of homicide due to mental disorder rose steadily until the mid-1970s. From then there was a reversal in the rate of homicides attributed to mental disorder, which declined to historically low levels, while other homicides continued to rise. CONCLUSIONS The reasons for the rise and fall in homicides attributed to mental disorder are not clear. The earlier increase in such homicides may have been due to the same sociological factors that caused the increase in other homicides over that time. The subsequent decline may have been due to improvements in psychiatric treatments and service organisation. Another possibility is that there has been an informal change to the legal tests for the finding of homicide due to mental disorder.

Further evidence for a deficit in switching attention in schizophrenia

In this study, sustained, selective, divided, and switching attention, and reloading of working memory were investigated in schizophrenia by using a newly developed Visual Attention Battery (VAB). Twenty-four outpatients with schizophrenia and 24 control participants were studied using the VAB. Performance on VAB components was correlated with performance of standard tests. Patients with schizophrenia were significantly impaired on VAB tasks that required switching of attention and reloading of working memory but had normal performance on tasks involving sustained attention or attention to multiple stimulus features. Switching attention and reloading of working memory were highly correlated with Trails (B-A) score for patients. The decline in performance on the switching-attention task in patients with schizophrenia met criteria for a differential deficit in switching attention. Future research should examine the neurophysiological basis of the switching deficit and its sensitivity and specificity to schizophrenia.

Human cortical processing of colour and pattern

The present study investigates human visual processing of simple two‐colour patterns using a delayed match to sample paradigm with positron emission tomography (PET). This study is unique in that we specifically designed the visual stimuli to be the same for both pattern and colour recognition with all patterns being abstract shapes not easily verbally coded composed of two‐colour combinations. We did this to explore those brain regions required for both colour and pattern processing and to separate those areas of activation required for one or the other. We found that both tasks activated similar occipital regions, the major difference being more extensive activation in pattern recognition. A right‐sided network that involved the inferior parietal lobule, the head of the caudate nucleus, and the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus was common to both paradigms. Pattern recognition also activated the left temporal pole and right lateral orbital gyrus, whereas colour recognition activated the left fusiform gyrus and several right frontal regions. Hum. Brain Mapping 13:213–225, 2001.

Meta-analysis of self-reported substance use compared with laboratory substance assay in general adult mental health settings.

An accurate assessment of substance use is necessary to make a correct psychiatric diagnosis and to provide appropriate treatment. This study uses meta‐analysis to establish the strength of the association between self‐reported substance use and the results of laboratory substance assay including the testing for specific substances and screening for any substance use in psychiatric hospitals and in community mental health settings.

Substance Abuse and Violent Crime in Patients With Schizophrenia

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