Tourette's syndrome—case report and contribution to the Prata/Masson-Nunn controversy

The conflicting views on Tourette's syndrome (TS) and its management in children put forward in the November 1985 issue of Journal of Family Therapy (Nunn, 1985; Prata & Masson, 1985) and the Editorial in the same issue prompt us to report a case. A twelve-year-old boy with TS managed on interactional lines snowed changes more modest than those achieved by Prata and Masson, and we address some of the issues raised by Nunn in his critique of their paper.     

Book Notes

The Psychological Record -     

Dimensions of Suicide: Perceptions of Lethality,Time, and Agony

Two hundred ninety-one lay persons and 10 forensic pathologists rated the lethality, time, and agony for 28 methods of suicide for 4117 cases of completed suicide in Los Angeles County in the period 1988–1991. Whereas pathologists provided consistent ratings, lay persons demonstrated extreme variability and a tendency to inflate ratings of all three dimensions. Significant gender differences emerged, with females rating frequently used suicide methods more similarly to pathologists than the males did. Males who suicided used the most lethal and quickest methods whereas females selected methods varying in lethality, duration, and agony. African Americans were overrepresented in the use of the most lethal and quickest methods.