Category: The Elderly

Pat Summitt, Tennessee Coach, to Continue Despite Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

Pat Summitt, championship-winning coach of the University of Tennessee Women’s Basketball Team, was recently diagnosed with early onset dementia (Alzheimer’s disease), as reported by Sports Illustrated on August 23. She is 59-years-old and will continue to coach: “Summitt said that she didn’t consider retirement. She told the News Sentinel that she was encouraged after speaking […]

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Misery Index Hits 28-Year High

Time magazine on June 20, 2011, reports that a certain Misery Index has reached a 28-year high. This survey tool, when it was concocted in the 1960s, wasn’t meant to be a scientific and comprehensive measure of human behavior. Rather, it is a shorthand measure combining unemployment and inflation to gauge the effect of both […]

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Learning to Live Less Perfectly

Although many people confuse perfectionism with obsessive compulsive disorders, many see this as two separate entities that require different approaches in understanding. Most of us reading this will have an intuitive idea of what is being talked about, as most of us possess at least small levels of these two characteristics. Philip Gnilka, assistant professor […]

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Confidentiality Cloaks Medicare Abuse, Says Wall Street Journal

An article in the Wall Street Journal examines how “Confidentiality Cloaks Medicare Abuse.” Mark Schools and Maurice Tamman report on how Medicare’s own internal regulations get in the way of effective review of claims that may be fraudulent. “There are plenty of reasons why Medicare often fails to stop questionable payments up front. To protect […]

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DSM V: The Future of Psychiatric Diagnoses

For nearly the past 60 years, the psychiatric profession has published a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual describing different mental conditions that are treated by psychiatrists. The first manual was spiral bound and was made up of fewer than 80 pages. DSM IV has become a major reference work, with hundreds of pages and many auxiliary […]

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Glenn Close to Address Neuroscience 2010 Convention

Glenn Close, award-winning actress who has become an advocate for persons with bipolar disorder and other severe mental illnesses, will be the Keynote Speaker at Neuroscience 2010 , the 40th Annual Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience, to be held in San Diego from November 13-17th, 2010. Close has developed a special interest in mental […]

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Mandated Treatment Law Set to Expire

Kendra’s Law, passed by the New York State legislature about ten years ago, is set to expire. This law was passed and named after a woman who was pushed to her death by a severely mentally ill person who was not following the prescribed treatment regimen. One of the advocates of this bill is E. […]

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Stop Bullying Now!

There’s too much bullying going on and not enough being done to stop it. In all fairness, many have the good will and courage and desire to confront bullying but want to make sure it is done properly so as to not make a bad situation worse. AMHF is monitoring the psychological damage done to […]

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Neuropsychology: All Kinds of Things Affected by the Brain

NEUROPSYCHOLOGY: “All Kinds of Things Affected by the Brain” Simone Collymore, PhD, is a neuropsychologist in Kingston, New York, one of the few practitioners in the Hudson Valley of this specialty involving psychology and brain science. Whereas other specialists that study the brain by necessity use tools that may have less-than-helpful side effects, Collymore’s craft […]

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More on Aging Gracefully

The following article by William Van Ornum appeared in the Hudson Valley News on January 19, 2010. RIVER REFLECTIONS ON PSYCHOLOGY AGING GRACEFULLY As a clinical psychologist, resident of the Hudson Valley, and recent member of the +55 Club, what might I offer to a subject that is on a lot of our minds—getting older? […]

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Trouble Getting to Sleep?

Sleep is essential according to the American Psychological Association. This professional group notes that “millions of people don’t get enough, resulting in such problems as daytime sleepiness, poor decision-making, interference with learning, and accidents.” One study, using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), suggested that CBT can do a better job of reducing anxiety than sleeping pills. […]

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Tax Dollars at Work

The National Institute of Mental Health offers a rich Web site for consumers, researchers, and program administrators. Not only is there detailed and highly credible information about major mental-health conditions, the procedures for obtaining research and program grants are detailed. A section of the Web site, “Science News,” provides interesting feature stories about conditions and […]

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Mental Health: Where Do Your Politicians Stand?

There are some political topics and issues that one party or another seems to own. These concerns are part of the history and ideology of a particular political party and they present themselves, sometimes in slightly or radically different forms, as the years go by and the elections occur every two to four years. From […]

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A Powerful Grass-Roots Organization

There is a nation-wide organization offering support and help to those with psychological problems and their families. In these days of funding changes, there is a section devoted to the legislative environment for those who want to become public advocates. The National Association of Mental Health website is a valuable resource for everyone: National Association […]

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A New York (Therapy) Minute

Many are accustomed to viewing therapy as a process that occurs in chunks of 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Yes, much healing occurs this way. Others remind us that therapy can occur in short intervals: the school psychologist briefly talking to a student, the psychologist stopping by at someone’s bedside in a hospital, the quick […]

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American Psychological Association (AAP) Convention 2009

I am recently back from attending the annual American Psychological Association, the major organization of practicing and research psychologists in North America. With 150,000 members, the venerable APA convened for the 117th time in Toronto. Over 10,000 members, representing major universities and clinical programs, attended, as well as many psychologists who are in private practice. […]

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Hagiophobia: Defined but How Prevalent?

One of the goals of the American Mental Health Foundation is to encourage exploration between religion and mental health, particularly in finding religious practices that enhance mental health. We always hope to do so in a nondenominational way. Hagios comes from the Greek word meaning “sacred” or “holy.” Hagiophobia therefore means fear of God, saints, […]

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In Developed Countries, Eight out of Ten Leading Causes of Disabilities Are Related to Mental Illness

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) […]

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Since Grandma Died, Grandpa Has a Severe Phobia about Falling Asleep

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 […]

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Aging Well!

There is a great book that has been out several years now: Aging Well by Dr. George Vailland. He is a psychiatrist and long-time researcher. Vailland studied three different groups from radically different backgrounds, levels of IQ, and income. He sought to find the best predictor of aging well. It was not cholesterol. It was […]

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The Psychology of Gratitude

On this Thanksgiving Holiday it’s great to know that mental health professionals are more and more emphasizing GRATITUDE in their therapies and publications. Just one example is Martin Seligman’s book on POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY. While insight about the past can be helpful for some, an attitude of appreciation for life in the here-and-now is a good […]

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Our New Video

Under the auspices of LanternMedia, the American Mental Health Foundation has produced a short video about its history and program. You may watch it below:

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American Psychological Association

The American Psychological Association, a group of over 100,000 psychologists in the U.S.A., offers helpful information for professionals as well as the public on its website: click here for APA link

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Help for our older relatives, friends, and neighbors

In the 1990s a new specialty area emerged in psychiatry—Geriatric Psychiatry. Mental health problems in older persons can be effectively treated. In the New York City area, the Weill Cornell Medical College offers research and clinical services. To learn more about help that is available, click here.

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special needs and the elderly

Individuals with Special Needs as well as The Elderly…too often, our society wants us to forget they exist. How much easier it is to turn our heads and pretend that we just don’t see. “What you do to the least of mine, you also do to me.” One of the goals of “The New American […]

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