[Intracranial space-occupying processes in psychiatry--30 years' of clinico-neuropathologic catamnesis].

Despite declining frequency of postmortem examinations in mental hospitals no corresponding decline in the proportion of intracranial space-occupying lesions is observed in a 30-years retrospective study. 77.5% of these lesions were meningiomas, gliomas, metastases, and subdural haematomas. 70.4% of all 71 patients had major psychiatric abnormalities during the clinical course. In 58% of these patients no clinical diagnosis of intracranial space-occupying process was made. Reasons for the diagnostic delay and for the postmortem results are discussed. The significance of psychopathological change in the group of long-term residents in mental hospitals is stressed.