The health care needs of women veterans.

Although women veterans accounted for 4.1 percent of all veterans in 1983, they accounted for only 1.5 percent of all discharges from Veterans Administration hospitals in that year. These data suggest that women veterans are not utilizing their health care benefits as often as male veterans do, possibly because they are choosing to receive health care in non-VA facilities. Furthermore, the patterns of utilization for women veterans suggest a selective use of VA hospitals for serious illnesses that require protracted care. The author explores some possible explanations for this phenomenon and emphasizes the need for the VA health care system to incorporate such information in the planning of health care services for women veterans.

Anxiety states: relationship to atmospheric cations and serotonin.

Five cases are described that offer evidence for the existence of the "serotonin irritation syndrome," an anxiety state associated with high cation environments, elevated serum serotonin, and decreased urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. The therapeutic response and reduction in serum serotonin after treatment with methysergide and/or removal from the high-cation environment support a serotonergic basis of the anxiety.

Hyperactivity followed by manic-depressive disorder: two case reports.

Hyperactivity in childhood is a syndrome which has been well described but not so clearly defined in etiology or relationship to adult psychopathology. Two cases are described which suggest that in some instances hyperactive syndrome may be related to a later onset of affective disorder. The clinical and theoretical implications are described.