Introduction

Like in other branches of medicine, in psychiatry too, most clinicians and researchers are concerned, if not really obsessed, with what is the most recent advance in a particular field or area. Enlightened readers scan the references’ list and are suitably impressed if there is a generous sprinkling of recent ones. Writers, similarly, want to refer to recent works as far as possible, and sometimes may go out of their way to accommodate them in an effort to appear abreast of contemporary literature. The more recent the work quoted, the greater the impact, and equally greater the research writer’s satisfaction. Subtle psychological factors play their role here no doubt, as does the not so subtle need to impress and hold the interest of one’s readers, and one’s peers.

Ofcourse, in this there is always the danger that something time-tested and well-proven may get sidelined for the new and promising, yet unproven. This can no doubt also disturb, if not damage, so many personal and collective equations. The concern with keeping abreast of recent advances makes us knowledgeable, or at least seem so, and does serve to impress our audiences favourably. But somewhere down the line is also involved the legitimate fear whether we sideline something proven for extra-scientific reasons.