Journalist Daphne Merkin, who has written on Kabbalah and other subjects, recently contributed a brilliant article to The New York Times Magazine. The article can be accessed below. It is an article for anyone who, in the words of the long-time director of the American Mental Health Foundation, Dr. Stefan de Schill, “feels exiled from […]
By: Evander LomkeThe May 18, 2009, issue of The New Yorker features an article by Jonah Lehrer entitled “Don’t.” It is about the psychology of delayed gratification. For those of us who may have long questioned a society that encourages and even reveres instant pleasure, the article is of considerable interest. A cartoon some 40 pages later […]
By: Evander LomkeBoth AMHF and the World Health Organization (WHO) recognize the crippling effect of mental illness. In their report “The Global Burden of Disease,” C. J. L. Murray and A. D. Lopez emphasize that 8 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the developed countries are mental illness. These include: (1) Major Depressive Disorders (2) […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.The American Mental Health Foundation takes no official position on the SAT. We do, however, recognize the tremendous anxiety it engenders. As in many areas related to mental health, knowing something about the history gives us greater awareness of how current practices developed. You will see how this bit of history offers a lesson to […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Each year, hew children with disabilities enter the school system; and each year students who are already enrolled in school become newly diagnosed with a disability. The Individual Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) lists different types of problems experienced by children aged three to twenty-one, and offers services for these children that are paid for by […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.“There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face.” (Macbeth)
By: Evander LomkeWhat or where are the boundaries of psychology and parapsychology? Are those that ridicule research into ESP, telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance acting as responsible skeptics? Or are they closed-minded? When it comes to the human mind, it may be always be best to keep an open mind. In 1972, a slim book by Arthur Koestler […]
By: Evander LomkeResearchers estimate that between one and three percent of adults in the United States have a gambling problem. We at AMHF believe there is a need to give more attention to this. How many marriages or families are ruined due to addictive or compulsive gambling? Our society certainly mixes messages to teens: everything from rub-off […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.There is an especially fine organization to help persons who, in addition to developmental disabilities, also have a psychiatric diagnosis from the DSM IV-TR. Some examples of dually diagnosed persons would be a Down syndrome person that is also diagnosed with major depression, a mildly retarded person that is also diagnosed with bipolar disorder, or […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.For almost all of us, phobias are unwelcome visitors as we age. One researcher even calls them “the silent geriatric giant.” How common are these anxiety disorders later in life? Another researcher estimates that the prevalence for phobias in old age is 5 to 6 percent of the population. The number, however, doesn’t tell how […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.
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