The Standing Committee of the Association of University Teachers of Psychiatry (AUTP) have recently prepared guidelines for teachers and students on sciences basic to psychiatry. This followed a request from the College and these guidelines are now being published in the Bulletin. They have been considered by the Education Committee and by Council who commend them to members of the College.

Despite a good deal of argument to the contrary (Maughs, 1941; Hunter and Macalpine, 1963; Walk, 1954; Walk and Walker, 1961; Craft, 1965; Whitlock, 1967) it is still commonly believed that Prichard's ‘moral insanity’ (1835) was the forerunner of our present-day concept of psychopathic (sociopathic) personality; the most recent example of this appearing in the paper by Davies and Feldman (1981), who write: ‘In 1801 Pinel described a condition termed by him manie sans délire, the notable feature of which was that the sufferer showed bouts of extreme violence but with no signs of psychosis … Prichard confirmed Pinel's observation and coined the term “moral insanity” which led to “a marked perversion of the natural impulses”.’ A number of modern textbooks (Sim, 1974; Friedman et al, 1975; Slater and Roth, 1977; Trethowan, 1979) also appear to regard moral insanity as the precursor of psychopathic disorder, although Trethowan correctly noted how the word ‘moral’ denoted ‘affective’ and was not being used in the usual ethical sense. He went on, however, to write that Prichard described cases showing antisocial or even criminal behaviour.

I suspect that caring not only for patients but also for staff is the lot of most senior registrars. Patients need understanding and ‘formulating’, while staff need support and supervision. A less obvious role for the senior registrar is that of caring for the organization of which staff and patients form a part. True, this is often done by the consultant. But frequently the unique position of the senior registrar, closely in touch with the day-to-day life of the ward and yet sufficiently detached, makes him the ideal person for this role.