Major and exciting advances in psychiatric genetics were discussed at a 3-day international workshop. The internationally renowned editors assembledan impressive list of specialists, all of whom are leading in their subject. Reviews and short articles which stress special problems or new research results have been brought together in this book, also including intensive discussions of the different topics. Much of the material covers the application of molecular genetics in major psychoses, Alzheimer's dementia or preclinical research. However, the problems of diagnostic features or phenotypical characterization broaden further the content of this volume, making it truly a collection of the art information.

This volume contains the proceedings of the symposium Pathochemical Markers in Major Psychoses, held in Vienna in July 1983. The development of biological markers in psychiatric diseases, par ticularly in the field of neurochemistry, has made substantial progress during recent years although the multiple mechanisms of mental illness are still not fully understood. The greatest contribution has come through the development of new therapeutic agents that not only pro vide invaluable help for psychiatric patients but also serve as chemical tools for the investigation of the biological mechanisms underlying the disease. The catecholamine and serotonin hypotheses for major psy choses have been of particular heuristic value and have stimulated im portant research. However, the scope of our scientific endeavours has to be broadened to include other putative biological causes of psychoses, e. g., pathomorphological changes, aberrations in the metabolism of other amino acids and oflipids, or the formation of endogenous toxins. This book presents new selected studies of the pathochemical bases of schizophrenia and affective psychoses. Although several topics were inevitably not included in this symposium, we nevertheless hope that it represents an integration of basic pathomorphological research with current clinical findings in the area of pathochemical markers in psy chiatry. October 1984 HELMUT BECKMANN PETER RIEDERER Contents Neuromorphological Background of Pathochemical Studies in Major Psychoses K. JELLINGER (With I Figure) . . . . . . . . . . of Psychopathological Classification The Significance in Interpreting Biochemical Findings E. GABRIEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

The volumes on "psychotropic substances" in the Handbook of Experimental Phar macology series clearly show that the classical concept of this discipline has become too narrow in recent years. For instance, what substances are psychotropic is determined not by the criteria of the animal trial, i.e. by experimental pharmacology, but by their action on the psy che, which in the final analysis is only accessible to us in man. Psychotropic substances force experimental pharmacology (and thus also this Handbook) outside its tradition allimits, which have essentially depended on animal studies. The antipsychotics and antidepressants were not discovered in animal ex periments, but by chance (or more precisely, by clinical empiricism). Experienced psy chiatrists trained in the observation of patients recognised the efficacy of drugs, the beneficial effect of which nobody had dreamed of before: DELAY and DENICKER in the case of chlorpormazine, KLINE in the case of the monoamine oxidase inhibitors and KUHN in the case of imipramine. It was only after these discoveries that the pharma cologists developed experimental models of the psychoses in animal experiments. However, even today we still do not know with certainty which of the effects shown in animals is relevant for the clinical effect despite the vast abundance of individual investigations. For many years, this uncertainty led to the testing of antipsychotics (e.g. of the neuroleptic type) in models which actually produced the undesired effects."

The discovery of chlorpromazine for the specific treatment of schizophrenic symp toms and, later on, of imipramine for the specific treatment of depressive symptoms marked a new milestone in clinical psychiatry and basic neuroscience 40 years ago. The exploration of biochemical mechanisms of action of these psychotropic drugs created new theories on the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, such as the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia and the catecholamine and serotonin hypotheses of depression. Thus the discovery of these biological treatments had a major impact on natural science-oriented research. Biological psychiatry as we know it today has its origin in these psychopharmacological drugs and influences many disciplines in psychiatry. It was a fortunate coincidence that Hans Hippius, whose 70th birthday we celebrated this year with an international symposium, started his professional career during this time in the 1950S. He was one of the early pioneers in clinical psycho pharmacological research and enthusiastic about both the scientific and the thera peutic prospects of the new psychotropic drugs. He has worked in this field for more than three decades and has made many lasting contributions to biological psychiatry. Among the many activities, his contributions in the development of the new atypical antipsychotic drug clozapine should be mentioned."

Mehr als die Halfte aller Patienten weisen Krankheiten mit seelischen Stoerungen oder mit einer psychosomatischen AEtiologie auf. Dementsprechend wichtig ist es, sowohl fur Studierende als auch fur AErzte aller Fachdisziplinen, die Grundlagen der psychosomatischen Medizin zu beherrschen. Im "Klussmann" werden die wichtigsten Krankheitsbilder aller klinischen Fachgebiete aus psychosomatischer Sicht behandelt. Dabei erleichtern Einleitungen und Definitionen den Einstieg in die Materie, zahlreiche Fallbeispiele sorgen fur Anschaulichkeit und stellen den Bezug zur Praxis her. Umfangreiche Hinweise zu weiterfuhrender Literatur, ein Glossar und ein Verzeichnis psychotherapeutischer Einrichtungen erhoehen den Wert dieses Lehrbuchs als Nachschlagewerk.