Decreased bone mineral density in medicated psychiatric patients.

Osteoporosis is a common problem in postmenopausal women. It has been linked to estrogen deficiency, other neuroendocrine processes such as hypercortisolemia and male hypogonadism, nutritional deficiencies, and other mechanisms. Some of these changes have been also reported in male and female patients with mental disorders, especially those receiving psychotropic medications.

Development of junior faculty in resource-poor departments of psychiatry.

Junior faculty are required to develop steady, productive academic and research programs in order to stay on an academic track and be promoted. In departments that are not research centers, quite often new, aspiring faculty do not have the time, skills, training, and the encouraging environment necessary to meet these demands. Quantitatively, research-poor departments provide clinical services to the majority of patients in the United States and psychiatric training to a large number of medical students and residents.

Menstrual irregularities associated with bupropion treatment.

The authors report two cases of menstrual irregularities associated with bupropion treatment. This is the first report of such an association, and it is supported by data collected by the Burroughs Wellcome Co. Since the mode of action of this effective new antidepressant is basically unknown and does not operate through any of the putative mechanisms of the classical antidepressants, its side effect profile is of heuristic as well as practical importance.

The normalcy of self-proclaimed "normal volunteers".

Volunteers who claimed they were "healthy and normal" and did not reveal any physical or mental abnormality or medication use during brief structured interviews underwent detailed structured interviews with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Diagnoses were based on the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC), and family history was determined with the Family History RDC. Of the 121 volunteers, 16.