Both 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.Wouldn’t it be great to raise the stock market and lower the divorce rate in America? At present, stocks have lost around 50 percent of their value, and the permanence and stability of nearly 50 percent of marriages is lost to divorce. Many faith-based institutions are working to counter this trend. Many require prospective couples […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.“The issue in psychiatry has been too often confused by starting from a fixed list of symptoms instead of from the study of those whose characteristic reactions are denied validity in their society.” (Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture [1934]) These wise words were written 75 years ago.
By: Evander Lomke
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