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The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience and impact of targeted training involving simulation of auditory hallucinations on attitudes and practice of professionals working with people with mental illness.

Pragmatic mixed-method study. Data were collected from 83 professionals who completed training using cross-sectional survey and focus groups. Descriptive, comparative and thematic analyses were performed.

Training was associated with changes in thinking and attitude related to working with people who hear voices. Participants, who commonly found the simulation confronting, drew on the experience to deepen appreciation of coping with voices that are distressing and develop a new frame of reference for practice. They positioned themselves differently and described adopting a range of practices consistent with the recovery approach. Environmental constraints variously impacted on capacity to enact these practices.

The study was conducted in one centre using a bespoke survey instrument with a sample intrinsically motivated to complete training. Hence, caution should be exercised with regard to generalisability. However, findings are consistent with the limited published literature and the mixed-method approach provided a comprehensive understanding.

The paper demonstrated that the training employed can support development of patient centred, recovery-oriented practices. These are likely essential to optimising patient and service outcomes. Further research is needed to examine the impact of training on a broader cross section of professionals and the outcomes for patients.

The paper provides important new insights regarding the mechanisms by which training can contribute to development of patient-centred care.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the lack of literature and research on command hallucinations (CHs) in D/deaf persons and make suggestions for assessment, instrument development and research into CHs in D/deaf persons. This is important since it is known that hallucinations are more common in persons with hearing impairment and because CHs are known to be associated not only with distress, but also suicide and homicide.

Articles on hallucinations and CHs in D/deaf persons are discussed in the context of existing literature on CHs in hearing persons.

When compared with the literature on hearing persons it is clear that very little is known about the prevalence of CHs in D/deaf persons and that there is a significant lack of research into emotional and behavioural responses to CHs in D/deaf persons. There is no knowledge about the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for D/deaf persons who experience CHs. This is important since a CBT approach has been found to reduce risky compliance.

This paper makes recommendations for informed and evidence-based assessments of CHs in D/deaf persons; such assessments may have an important role in reducing risk and distress.

This is the first paper to review and consider CHs in D/deaf persons as a distinct clinical phenomenon. This paper makes recommendations for the assessment of D/deaf persons who experience CHs.

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with a range of psychiatric disorders. However, making an accurate diagnosis is challenging. It is important to follow a robust and informed process in the assessment of psychopathology that is centred on the individual and their neurodevelopmental difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to provide clinicians with an evidence-based approach to the assessment process for adults with ASD presenting with a possible co-occurrent psychiatric disorder.

A review of the recent literature was undertaken focusing on key papers that describe the assessment of mental health problems in adults with ASD.

The presentation of psychiatric symptoms is influenced by the underlying developmental disorder and it is often quite different from the one of the general population. Thus, it is essential to undertake a comprehensive psychopathological assessment including a diagnostic assessment of ASD. There is a very small evidence base on the use of diagnostic tools in the assessment of adults with ASD.

This is a practice review paper applying recent evidence from the literature.

Peduncluar hallucinosis is a rare neurological disorder characterized by visual hallucinations, often described to be vivid and dream-like. While the exact pathophysiology has yet to be elucidated, most cases to date have suggested an etiology stemming from lesions to the thalamus or midbrain. Here presented is a case of a 54-year-old female with peduncular hallucinosis secondary to a pontine cavernoma hemorrhage in the setting of essential hypertension. The patient's vivid visual and auditory hallucinations aligned temporally with the lesion's discovery and resolved after pharmaceutical treatment. This case represents a rare form of peduncular hallucinosis secondary to a pontine cavernoma hemorrhage leading to vasospasm in the arteries feeding the brainstem.

One of the most serious problems facing the country today is maintaining dietary standards, especially in the vulnerable groups, in the face of rising food prices. If it were food prices alone, household budgetry could cope, but much as rising food prices take from the housewife's purse, rates, fuel, travel and the like seem to take more; for food, it is normally pence, but for the others, it is pounds! The Price Commission is often accused of being a watch‐dog which barks but rarely if ever bites and when it attempts to do this, like as not, Union power prevents any help to the housewife. There would be far less grumbling and complaining by consumers if they could see value for their money; they only see themselves constantly overcharged and, in fact, cheated all along the line. In past issues, BFJ has commented on the price vagaries in the greengrocery trade, especially the prices of fresh fruit and vegetables. Living in a part of the country given over to fruit farming and field vegetable crops, it is impossible to remain unaware of what goes on in this sector of the food trade. Unprecedented prosperity among the growers; and where fruit‐farming is combined with field crops, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower and leafy brassicas, many of the more simple growers find the sums involved frightening. The wholesalers and middle‐men are something of unknown entities, but the prices in the shops are there for all to see. The findings of an investigation by the Commission into the trade, the profit margins between wholesale prices and greengrocers' selling prices, published in February last, were therefore not altogether surprising. The survey into prices and profits covered five basic vegetables and was ordered by the present Prices Secretary the previous November. Prices for September to November were monitored for the vegetables—cabbages, brussels sprouts, cauliflowers, carrots, turnips and swedes, the last priced together. Potatoes were already being monitored.

The distress that is associated with auditory hallucinations, or voices, is well documented. However, increasingly research into this phenomenon is also capturing those who cope with their voices, and live meaningful lives. Peer support is a popular and useful way in which to learn to manage the distress for voice-hearers. The Hearing Voices Network (HVN) acts as an umbrella organisation for which research, training and peer support groups exist (www.intervoiceonline.org). Despite the growing amount of peer support groups established, there is to date no published material on these groups. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issue.

The present study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to explore the experiences of four informants across three New South Wales HVN groups.

Results suggest that the social connections, value of sharing and desire for more group members are all important within the group. Beyond the group, informants described the increased willingness to talk to others about their voice experiences, improvements in sense of self and a positive change in their relationship with their voices.

The study demonstrates the importance of peer participation in the mental health workforce and the provision of safe spaces for those with lived experience to share and learn from each other in meaningful ways. Research implications include the need for further research measuring outcomes on a larger scale for these support groups.

Attempted and completed self-enucleation, or removal of one's own eyes, is a rare but devastating form of self-mutilation behavior. It is often associated with psychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia, substance induced psychosis, and bipolar disorder. We report a case of a patient with a history of bipolar disorder who gouged his eyes bilaterally as an attempt to self-enucleate himself. On presentation, the patient was manic with both psychotic features of hyperreligous delusions and command auditory hallucinations of God telling him to take his eyes out. On presentation, the patient had no light perception vision in both eyes and his exam displayed severe proptosis, extensive conjunctival lacerations, and visibly avulsed extraocular muscles on the right side. An emergency computed tomography scan of the orbits revealed small and irregular globes, air within the orbits, and intraocular hemorrhage. He was taken to the operating room for surgical repair of his injuries. Attempted and completed self-enucleation is most commonly associated with schizophrenia and substance induced psychosis, but can also present in patients with bipolar disorder. Other less commonly associated disorders include obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, mental retardation, neurosyphilis, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and structural brain lesions.

Historically, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were sometimes diagnosed with schizophrenia or major psychosis. Although significant advancements in the process of differential diagnosis have been made since 1950s, there still exists a problematic delay in diagnosis due to overlap of symptoms. Negative symptoms of schizophrenia can mimic the social difficulties and stereotyped behaviors characteristic of ASD, whereas positive symptoms of schizophrenia can be perceived as restricted and repetitive behaviors, complicating the diagnostic process. The purpose of this paper is to present two clinical cases that highlight the complexities in differential diagnosis of early psychosis, schizophrenia and ASD.

Two females, 14 and 16 years of age, were referred to a free screening clinic in Southern California to be assessed for possible ASD. Both females were referred because of the presentation of restricted and repetitive behaviors and social communication difficulties. Both females and their families were administered a battery of measures to ascertain the youths’ cognitive functioning, adaptive living skills and severity of autism-related behaviors.

The 14-year-old presented with early-stage (prodromal or at-risk mental state) psychosis; 16-year-old met criteria for schizophrenia. Both were referred to clinics specializing in treatment for psychosis and/or schizophrenia. Neither met criteria for ASD.

More published studies are needed on the overlap of symptoms between ASD and schizophrenia to help prevent diagnostic overshadowing of autistic symptoms and promote treatment during the early stages of psychosis. This is particularly important given the strong evidence that early treatment for psychosis improves social, cognitive and functional outcomes.