The authors examined the decoding of the flouting of the Gricean relevance maxim among children with mental retardation compared to a mental age matched control group with average intellectual capacities, where the cause of mental retardation was perinatal hypoxia. They have investigated the decoding deficit by five short “question and answer” conversation vignettes, where the flouting of the relevance maxim was presented. They have found significant deficit in the mental retardation group in their capacity to decode properly the flouting of the Gricean relevance maxim. These data are the first that point at a pragmatic language use deficit in mental retardation caused by perinatal hypoxia.

The history of the first convulsive treatment is summarized here in commemoration of its 75th anniversary. The neuropathological and clinical findings underlying the theoretical basis of the method are reviewed, together with the case histories of the first batch of patients who underwent convulsive therapy. The early indications and effectiveness of convulsive therapy are also discussed. Finally, in a broader context, the role of convulsive treatment in the development of modern biological psychiatry and Laszlo Meduna’s contribution to this development are touched upon.

KEYWORDS: convulsive treatment, László Meduna, indication, effectiveness, history of psychiatry

Recent neurobiological and clinical studies demonstrated that neuroplasticity, a principal mechanism of neuronal adaptation and survival, was disrupted in major depression and in long-term stress. Increasing research data show, that structural remodeling and maladaptive dysfunction of certain brain regions is a main component of major depressive illness. Tianeptine, an “atypical” antidepressant, which has a pharmacological action different from the “typical” reuptake blocking agents, underlined a re-evaluation of the neurobiological basis of major depression and revealed that the disorder cannot be explained only by the classic monoamine hypothesis. Neuroplasticity hypothesis of major depression brings the possibility to make important contributions to the diagnosis, however, it may helpful in the understanding the detailed subtle drug effects, which cannot be revealed by pure neurochemical mechanisms. In this review, effects of tianeptine on neuroplasticity, neuroprotection, neurogenesis, hippocampal stress response, long term potentiation, and, as well as on the glutamatergic system and other neuronal networks are evaluated.