A comparison was made of the reliability and validity of two self-rating scales, the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS), in the diagnosis of depression in 93 children (aged 8–16 years) attending a university child psychiatry department. The two scales were of comparable merit but had only moderate discrimination between depressed and non-depressed children, with each scale having a misclassification rate of 25%. Better agreement was obtained in more verbally intelligent children, irrespective of age. Girls scored higher on the instruments than boys. No significant relationship was found between teacher assessment of classroom behaviour and the two self-rating depression instruments.

A total of 275 successive referrals to a university child psychiatry unit out-patient department were examined using the Child Depression Inventory. Of these, 95 children were examined further by a structured clinical interview, and the relationship between different instruments for the assessment of depression in childhood was investigated. Just over one-third of the children (35%) had significant depression, and it was found that depression may be missed unless children with other psychiatric diagnoses are examined closely. Multivariate analyses of the clinical data provided factorial validation of diagnoses when employing different clinical diagnostic schemas.

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The chronic administration of sertraline, clozapine, amitriptyline and imipramine on brain serotonin, liver enzymes and blood chemistry of rabbits were investigated. Sixty rabbits were equally divided into 5 groups and each group was intraperitoneally administered 2 ml of 0.5 mg of the respective drug/kg body weight/day) and saline as control for 28 days. After 28 days, the rabbits were sacrificed; blood taken, liver and brain were excised. The concentration of total protein, serotonin, cholesterol and triglyceride in serum, liver and brain were determined. The activities of serum and liver alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase were also assayed. The serum serotonin and brain serotonin levels in rabbits administered the respective drugs were significantly (p<0.01) higher than in rabbits administered saline. Brain protein and cholesterol levels in rabbit administered saline were significantly lower than in those administered sertraline, clozapine, amitriptyline and imipramine, with no difference in the serum protein levels. The activities of serum and liver AST and ALT of rabbits administered saline were significantly lower than in those administered the respective drugs, with the exception of serum ALP. Data from the study indicate that intraperitoneal administration of imipramine or amitriptyline produced a more pronounced effect on brain serotonin, activities of liver derived enzymes in serum and blood chemistry of rabbits compared to sertraline or clozapine.

Background: there is a welter of evidence for an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status (ses) and mental health. the relationship is grossly under researched in the developing countries. Objective: to ascertain rates of gross psychiatric morbidity and some demographic correlations in two communities with different socioeconomic standards. Design: a cross-sectional community based study. Subjects: random samples of two socioeconomically dissimilar communities (n1 = 189, n2 = 148) were assessed for psychiatric morbidity. Results: rates of psychiatric morbidity obtained for the lower status community (ajegunle) and the higher status community (Victoria island/ikoyi) on the ghQ-12 were 26.5 and 14.2 respectively and the corresponding figures on the SRQ (non-psychosis) were 41.8 and 18.2 and on the SRQ (psychosis) 61.5 and 31.7. a large number of positive socio-demographic correlations between cases and non-cases were obtained on srQ and ghQ-12 in both communities. Family history of psychiatric illness significantly differentiates cases from non-cases on all measures of morbidity. Conclusion: the socioeconomic inequality demonstrated should be minimised by evolving a social welfare policy in nigeria and other developing countries that is responsive to the survival needs of the populace and ensures equitable distribution of resources across socioeconomic strata. there is dire need for further research into the complex bearings of the link between social status and psychological wellness in the developing world.