Category: Bullying

The Tenth Annual Report of The American Mental Health Foundation

Annual Report of AMHF November 1, 2021, to October 31, 2022; on November 1, 2022, The American Mental Health Foundation will be 99 years in existence thus rapidly moving into 100. Few not-for-profit organizations can make this claim. This is the Tenth Annual Report of The American Mental Health Foundation (AMHF), an organization formed in […]

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Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr. Joins The American Mental Health Foundation Board of Directors

Raymond B. Flannery Jr., Ph.D., FACLP, a licensed clinical psychologist, is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. He has also served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Boston College. For 10 years, he was Director of Training for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health […]

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Child Abuse, Natural Disasters, and Health Care Providers

A busy pediatrician looked troubled and tense. He had seen this five-year old, Angela, once before two years ago. Then, it was a fall from some playground equipment her mother had said. Today, mom reported that it was a fractured wrist due to a fall from Angela’s bicycle. However this didn’t explain the child’s two […]

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Preventing Youth Violence: Twenty Years Later (Enhanced Findings and Treatment Interventions, Part 2)

Twenty years ago I published a book (that link goes to the new edition, with additional information by scrolling down here) on a topic of national concern: preventing youth violence. The American Mental Health Foundation (AMHF) requested I write two blogs that highlighted the contents in the book. The first blog reviewed the early/serious/urgent warning […]

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Cyberbullying: A Steady Stream of Vitriol to Children with Low Self-esteem

“[Cyberbullying is] a burgeoning area of interest for students in different fields, including education and information technology as well as social work. Factor-Inwentash is a natural place to investigate the phenomenon…social workers have always dealt with issues of discrimination and marginalization. When studying mental-health concerns, their profession places special emphasis on examining the social environments […]

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Bullies and Food Allergies

Pediatrics, the flagship peer-reviewed journal of that profession, recently reported on a study of over 200 young people who have been bullied., according to an article in the New York Times. The researchers discovered that almost one third of this group reported being singled out for a food allergy. For children with peanut butter allergies, the […]

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AMHF at BookExpo America

For three days last week American Mental Health Foundation Books shared a booth with its distributor, Lantern, at the annual BookExpo America—which is held at the Jacob Javits Center on New York City’s West Side. (New York remains the publishing capital of North America, even with the multitude of changes the industry has seen.) The […]

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Dr. Joyce Brothers, R.I.P.

Dr. Joyce Brothers, who paved the way for television figures as diverse as Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer and Dr. Drew Pinsky, and was essential in making the mass-cultural discussion of deep-seated and uncomfortable emotions in the U.S. a more open forum, died yesterday. As my friend notes in the Los Angeles Times obituary—which quotes him […]

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Books from Colleagues at ACA

Here are some worthwhile books that can be ordered from the American Counseling Association (ANA): 1. Hays, D. G. (2013). Assessment in Counseling: A Guide to the Use of Psychological Assessment Procedures. Fifth Edition. This is a bestselling text, and the latest version includes updates and changes in assessment procedures. Test selection, interpretation of findings, […]

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Psychiatry Films from AMHF: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975)

Of the twenty-one films for discussion on this Web site, here is number six, which stars Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher in signature roles. Thus is the plot, in slightly condensed form, from Wikipedia: In 1963, Randle Patrick “Mac” McMurphy (Jack Nicholson)—a recidivist anti-authoritarian criminal serving a sentence on an Oregon-prison farm for statutory rape […]

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Ann Coulter: Use of the “R” Word

Timothy Schriver, writing in the Huffington Post (Oct. 27, 2012), forwards to writer Ann Coulter a letter from a young man with Down syndrome. Recently Ms. Coulter used the “R” word while criticizing the President of the United States: “Dear Ann Coulter, “Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why […]

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Many Unite against Bullying

For at least several weeks we have been hearing about and seeing the bullying incident that occurred in upstate New York near Rochester. This occurred on a school bus where at least several students mercilessly taunted a 68-year-wiman who was riding the bus as a bus monitor. The video of this occurring captivated worldwide attention—especially […]

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Controversy Surrounding “Bully”

Controversy swirls around the Motion Picture Association of America “R” rating of Bully. AMHF has earlier blogged on the epidemic of bullying. In principle and logically, AMHF underscores that Cinematherapy begins with the prudent liberty to watch. Currently forbidden by the M.P.A.A. rating, young people—victims and those who target their peers—need to absorb this sensitive-sounding […]

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“The Prince of Tides”

There’s something about the Deep South that inspires the writing of great literature (think William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote) more than, for example, North Dakota. Likewise, we think of “the grand diagnoses” in psychiatry more than we do, say, about Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Prince of Tides is a 1991 movie capturing the lowland beauty […]

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Psychiatry Films from AMHF: “Charly” (1968)

This is the fifth of twenty-one films in the AMHF series of blogs. Charly is a controversial film, about mental retardation and psychiatry. The central controversy revolves around the question, “What is a human being?” Are individuals challenged by developmental delays “to be cured?” Are they not soulful, “whole individuals”? What would be the role […]

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AMHF Attends 51st Annual Meeting of New England Psychological Association

AMHF attended the 51st Annual Meeting of the New England Psychological Association (NEPA), held October 28-29 at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. After a wonderful dinner, hosted by Drs. Robin Crabtree and Susan Franzosa, deans at Fairfield, participants heard child-development expert Dr. James Garbarino speak of “Children and the Dark Side of Human Experience: Confronting […]

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AMHF Attends Northeast Conference for Teachers of Psychology

On Friday, October 28, 2011, AMHF attended the 17th Annual Meeting of the Northeast Conference for Teachers of Psychology. This is a group of psychologists, who teach in colleges and universities, dedicated to improving their teaching of undergraduates and graduates. Participants of the group come from a wide range of specialties and interests including developmental, […]

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Cautions on Psychiatric Medication in Children

Claudia M. Gold, MD, is a behavioral pediatrician who writes for the Boston Globe. She offers some excellent thoughts on the topic of psychiatric medication and children: “In the last chapter of my new book Keeping Your Child in Mind: Overcoming Defiance, Tantrums, and Other Everyday Behavior Problems by Seeing the World through Your Child’s […]

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New Books from American Counseling Association

Some good new books from American Counseling Association: Cyberbullying: What Counselors Need to Know, by Sheri Bauman. This book is geared toward counselors, teachers, school leaders, and all professionals who work with children and teens. In a reader-friendly style, the author addresses real-life dangers on the Internet, including offensive, confrontational, and harassing messages; disclosure of […]

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Primary Care and Mental Illness in Children

Counseling Today (a journal of the American Counseling Association in their July 2011 issue reports on a survey released by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the needs of families who have children experiencing mental illness. The Adolescent Action Center of NAMI did a survey of over 500 respondents. Each of these was […]

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APA Introduces Video on Bullying

As part of the AMHF series on Bullying, we call your attention to the American Psychological Association (APA) new video by Dr. Norman B. Anderson, CEO of the APA. Dr. Anderson states… The problem of bullying has received a great deal of media attention recently, and for good reason. Bullying can lead to lasting psychological […]

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Regina Sewell and LGBTQ Issues

Over at AMERICA we are having a discussion on National Day of Silence. Regina Sewell is a group therapist who, like Stefan de Schill, has kept the art and craft of group therapy alive and prosperous in times when most therapists have shifted over to the individual therapy model. She has these thoughts on National […]

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National Day of Silence: April 15, 2011

It has become a tradition where I teach for the students to make “National Day of Silence” a part of the year. This is national youth movement where silence is used as a tool to make others aware of the silence, often a quietude of contempt or ignoring, faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender […]

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Archie Pal “Out” in “Riverdale”

Mental-health issues with and among gay teens include coming-out and bullying. Now, these issues will be portrayed in the perennial Archie comic-book series. Kevin Keller is a gay teen who made his debut in the Veronica comic book last year. Now Kevin will debut in a four-part series, the first from a major comic-book publisher. […]

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More on Bullying….

Student Allyse Bamonte responds: Alyssa, what a terrible situation you had to experience. Unfortunately, this guy’s insecurities drove him to put you down in order to make himself feel better. Stories similar to Alyssa’s are all too common nowadays. On the news, bullying often comes up a few times a month. When and how did […]

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A College Student Responds

A college student, Alyssa Cariani, responds to our recent article on bullying and hazing: “I, along with millions of others, have been a victim of online bullying. In high school, a seemingly shy boy I had known for years asked me on a date. As I was not interested in this person, I respectfully declined […]

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Bullying and Hazing, on the Internet and Otherwise, at Colleges and Universities

In the increasing discussions that are being conducted on bullying, we have mentioned here that bullying is a phenomenon that can occur “across the entire lifespan.” Bullying occurs not just in schools but in career and employment situations, volunteer organizations, churches, and families. It should be no surprise that bullying occurs in colleges and universities. […]

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The Psychology of Dostoyevsky’s Karamazov Brothers

Although this blog is not a forum for literary critiques and commentary, my recent four-month wrestling match with The Karamazov Brothers (the translator of the edition I found in my branch of the New York Public Library maintains it is as ridiculous to call the book “The Brothers Karamazov” as it is to refer to […]

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Acne and Depression

For many acne is the bane of growing up and for some acne continues through adulthood. Acne can elicit both teasing and sympathy from others, and like many things, perhaps it is only the sufferer of acne who realizes its true effect on the body and beyond. New research is looking at how acne affects […]

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The Blight of Bullying and Homophobia

This video makes my skin crawl. It shows one of the most pernicious forms of bullying. (The video almost makes me want to stop rooting for the Yankees, which I have been doing for more years than I can count. Fortunately, they have no part in this horror.) Homophobia and Sports Fans on YouTube

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