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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2004) 185: 264
© 2004 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Correspondence

Case reports still valuable

M. Ben-Ezra

Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel

I read with interest Dr Bourne’s claims against the Journal’s Editor. These claims are only partially right. The reason the Journal is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of psychiatry is because of the editorial policy of encouraging and accepting novel research that strives to the highest scientific and medical levels. Sound research is the basis of all leading medical journals, and this one is no different. This research is the foundation of progress in psychiatry. The fruits of this research are to our benefit as well as that of our patients. Think of the effect of psychotropic drugs in the 1950s and their side-effects and compare them with new, state of the art medication. Psychiatry is a living and developing field which must obtain new and original research at all times in order to be relevant to medicine.

However, the days of case studies are far from over. Every leading medical journal has a section for case studies. The importance of case reports is highlighted by the reporting of a novel mental disorder or medical condition that catches the attention of the medical community, such as concentration camp syndrome (Eitinger, 1961) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Zambon & Nicholson, 2003) – both good examples of case reports that had an impact on the fields of psychiatry and medicine.

Instead of taking sides in this clash, it would be advisable to introduce a small section for case studies where clinicians could share important insights about patients or unusual cases. This section would also be beneficial to research by stimulating new ideas.

REFERENCES

  1. Bourne, H. (2004) A new name for the Journal? (letter) British Journal of Psychiatry, 184, 455 .[Free Full Text]
  2. Eitinger, L. (1961) Pathology of the concentration camp syndrome. Archives of General Psychiatry, 5, 371 -379.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  3. Zambon, M. & Nicholson, K. G. (2003) Sudden acute respiratory syndrome. BMJ, 326, 669 -670.[Free Full Text]



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