Siblings of schizophrenic patients--a review.

The families of patients with schizophrenia carry an enormous emotional and social burden. This article is a historical review of the study of the well siblings of schizophrenic individuals. The early investigations (1950s-1970s) were based on the theory of familial transmission of schizophrenia and focused on siblings from the aspect of their susceptibility to the disease.

Mood-congruent vs. mood-incongruent psychotic symptoms in affective psychotic disorders.

This review of the literature on the importance of congruence of mood to identify nosological sub-categories among the affective disorders showed the limited value of this concept. The reported prevalence rates of affective psychoses with mood-congruent, mood-incongruent and a combination of these symptoms vary widely among the different studies. This categorization seems neither to identify sub-groups with distinct demographic and onset characteristics nor to predict course and outcome.

Body image of achondroplastic children before and after leg elongation.

Body image disturbance was studied in 6 achondroplastic children before and after surgical leg elongation (Wagner's procedure) using Fisher's Draw-a-Person Test and the Body Cathexis Test, as well as on another group of 6 achondroplastic children who had undergone the same procedure several years earlier. These groups were compared with 12 healthy control children. Gross disturbance of body image was present before the operation with a substantial improvement after the procedure.