Comparing obligatory to nonobligatory runners.

This study compares "obligatory" runners (runners who continue to run despite clear physical injury or contraindications) to nonobligatory runners. Both groups scored within the normal range on most psychological test indices. The two groups had more similarities than differences.

Poor job quality and the decline of public psychiatry.

The alarming drop in the number of public-sector psychiatrists in recent years has caused great concern and has prompted efforts to attract young, talented psychiatrists to the public mental health system. To investigate their belief that poor job quality is an important contributor to the decline, the authors asked ten young public psychiatrists to rate their overall level of job satisfaction, to identify what they liked and disliked about their positions, and to speculate about what could be done to attract or retain public psychiatrists. Based on the psychiatrists' responses and a review of the relevant literature, the authors conclude that the public mental health field can better attract psychiatrists by facilitating their autonomy, promoting a medical model of mental illness, integrating public and private psychiatry, and improving benefits and salaries.

Running--an analogue of anorexia?

We have explored the apparent similarity between patients with anorexia nervosa and a subgroup of male athletes designated as "obligatory runners." Case examples are provided from interviews with more than 60 marathon and trail runners. Obligatory runners resemble anorexic women in terms of family background; socioeconomic class; and such personality characteristics as inhibition of anger, extraordinarily high self-expectations, tolerance of physical discomfort, denial of potentially serious debility, and a tendency toward depression.