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. Therefore, bone mineral density was measured by dual-photon absorptiometry in the lumbar spine and in the femoral neck of 33 female and 35 male consenting psychiatric inpatients admitted consecutively. Patients were diagnosed as having major depressive disorder (N = 21), schizophrenia (N = 33), schizoaffective disorder (N = 7), mania (N = 2), and adjustment disorder (N = 5). Plasma levels of prolactin, estrogen, cortisol, and testosterone were also measured in a subgroup of these patients. It is reported that female patients, but especially male patients, had a highly significant decrease in bone mineral density when compared with age- and sex-matched normal data. It is suggested that psychiatric patients treated with antidepressants or neuroleptics might have decreased bone mineral density than is normal for their age and sex, and may be at an increased risk for fractures. These results may be related to low levels of gonadal hormones, especially in male subjects. Data should be confirmed with a larger number of patients with and without medications to distinguish between diagnosis-related and treatment-related effects.

The authors sought to identify college students at risk for experiencing a mental health crisis that warranted a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital and/or a psychiatric hospitalization. A retrospective chart review of college students evaluated at a comprehensive psychiatric emergency program during a 1‐year period was conducted. Demographic variables, mental health treatment history, diagnosis, and hospital discharge plans were found to predict those students likely to be hospitalized and those likely to have positive discharge outcomes.

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. It is quite widely accepted that enhancement of academic education in these departments is needed. Currently, however, most suggestions to increase research in such departments have been initiated from the research center's perspective. In this study, the problem is illuminated from the faculty's perspective in resource-poor departments. Solutions are discussed and new approaches are suggested.

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