Eighty‐three obese subjects with binge eating disorder (BED) were compared with 99 obese subjects not meeting criteria for BED on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). Overall, the subjects in our sample were not significantly alexithymic, the mean global TAS score being 62.8 (SD = 10.2) which is comparable with the values found in nonpatient control samples. Furthermore, the mean TAS scores did not differ between obese subjects with and without BED. However, we found a slightly higher prevalence of alexithymia (TAS total score 74 and above) in BED subjects compared with non‐BED subjects (24.1% and 11.1%, respectively). A series of stepwise multiple regression analyses were run, exhibiting a significant relationship between the TAS and educational level and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) subscales Interpersonal Distrust and Ineffectiveness. Age, body mass index, measures of depression, and eating pathology did not predict TAS scores. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Patients with B27-AU patients exhibited significant psychopathology concerning depression and disease coping. Distress and life events were subjectively suspected to be a trigger. By imparting knowledge to the patients on probable development of depressive moods and the role of stress/life events as trigger for relapses, as well as offering behaviour therapy to optimise coping, may help patients to cope better with B27-AU.

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Together with a survey conducted among the population of Vienna on the prevalence of hypertension, the consumption of psychotropic substances was investigated. In cooperation with a polling institute a quota-sample of 1,470 Viennese over 15 were visited in their homes by 50 physicians trained in interview techniques. The quota-sample comprised 1,470 people (0.959(0/00) of the population of 1,531,346 inhabitants) and was representative in terms of age, sex, social status, and area of residence. The overall prevalence of psychoactive drug consumption among the inhibitants of Vienna investigated was found to be 6.8%. The female to male ratio was 3.5 to 1. Furthermore, psychoactive drug use increased with age and was influenced by social status, with the highest consumption rate found among divorced women and widows. Using the Goldberg "General Health Questionnaire", data were collected on the presence of psychopathologic symptoms and the responders' subjective feeling of being under stress was elicited. A significant correlation could be shown between these two factors and the use of psychoactive drugs. The type of drugs most frequently used were tranquilizers (4.96%), followed by antidepressants (0.95%) and hypnotics (0.88%).

Tranquilizers, and specifically benzodiazepines (BZD), have become one of the most widely used group of drugs in the world; some have suggested too widely used. Interest in these drugs is still extremely high, both from the scientific and sociological point of vi ew. This is best documented by the fact that the present review is based on more than 700 articles published between 1981 and 1984 covering various aspects of clinical pharmacology. Pharmacodynamic studies are mostly concerned with effects of the drug on the central nervous system (CNS), as well as on behavious and neuroendocrine functions. The former include computer-assisted quantitative analyses of the scalp-recorded wake electroencephalogram (EEG), based on which it seems possible to determine if, how, when and at what dose a newly developed compound affects the human brain. Sleep investigations are now concerned not only with the effect of the drug on the all-night sleep, but also on the quality of awakening and early morning behaviour as well as with residual effects during daytime, affecting amnestic and cognitive functions, psychomotor performance (specifically in regard to driving ability), as well as mood and affectivity. Finally, for almost a decade increasing concern has been expressed about the widespread use of tranquillizers in society. Scientific evidence concerning thiss issue will be reviewed so that an appropriate medical decision may be reached for the treatment of the individual patients after consideration of the beneficial effects as well as undesirable side-effects.