Category: Violence

Enduring Values in an Age of Change?

Ours is a turbulent and challenging age with many major cultural shifts seemingly happening all at once. A few examples: world powers jockey for dominance, civil rights and other rights advocates compete to be heard, major social shifts occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic with its many impacts isolating persons from each other, […]

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Psychological Trauma/Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and News Reporters

“If it bleeds, it leads” is a common expression among news reporters preparing evening-news programs across the country. These news stories usually emerge in response to critical incidents, such as natural disasters and various acts of human violence. These are the incidents to which first responders are called. These are also the critical events that […]

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PTSD and Public-works Employees

I remember Uncle Harry in my younger days as a happy, hard-working husband and father of two. Outgoing and gregarious, he was always upbeat and helpful. He enjoyed his public-works job as a way to help his community, he idolized his family, and he would do anything to help others. But it changed. It changed […]

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Caring Attachments: A 9/11 Encounter among Strangers

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my soul and my God and turned my dreams to dust.—Elie Wiesel This is a true story of caring attachments among complete strangers as recounted by the principals involved and the first responders onsite. On 9/11/2001, New York Fire Department Ladder 6 was dispatched to the World […]

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The Power of Two

Given the pressures in today’s world, would you welcome the opportunity to lessen your life stress and anxiety? Reduce your dysphoria and depression? Improve your physical health and sense of well-being? Even lengthen your life? What if I told you that you could attain all of these health benefits at no cost to your health-insurance […]

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COVID-19 Lockdowns and Violence: Attachment Theory Revisited

As COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in 2022, people put aside masks, social distancing, and lockdown social isolation to venture out to restore a more normal life. Most found that the “old” normal had been altered during the lockdown and had been replaced by “new” normal, e.g., some employees now worked from home, some local small […]

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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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Violence as COVID-19 Lockdowns Are Eased

It is happening everywhere. Adults are assaulted or shot in bars and entertainment venues. Teenagers and gang members kill each other in broad daylight. Children are murdered in their classrooms. Dinner guests who do not know each other break out in brawls in restaurants. Why is there this increase in crime and violence as COVID-19 […]

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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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Domestic Violence, Natural Disasters, and Health Care Providers

“Home is where the heart is” is a common expression that connotes caring and support. However in some homes it means heartache, medical injury, psychological terror, and even death. Not all family values are good, prosocial values; some are violent and destructive. Domestic violence (DV) refers to the physical, sexual, verbal/oral, and nonverbal acts of […]

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The Assaulted Staff Action Program: 30 Years of Service to Employee Victims

It happens. Violence suddenly erupts. It may be in homes, in schools, in factories, in houses of worship, or in the community’s streets. We know what happens. The first responders arrive. The assailant is subdued. The media encamps and reports the incident(s). Counselors arrive to assist the victims and witnesses. What would happen if violence […]

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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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Preventing Youth Violence: A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors

Preventing Youth Violence: Twenty Years Later (New Findings, Part 1)

Twenty years ago I published a book on a topic of national concern: preventing youth violence (Flannery, 2012a). The American Mental Health Foundation (AMHF), with its emphasis on improving mental-health awareness, requested I write two blogs (herewith, in 2019, are these two new essays) on some of the topics in the book. The first blog, from […]

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Coroner First Responders

Dateline: Miami, Florida, March 15, 2018 The day dawned bright and sunny with typical early spring Florida warmth. People began to wake up, and each person began to plan the day. Everyone left home for work, for school, for local errands. Some did not realize that they would never be returning home. Ever. Each sat […]

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Fred McFeely Rogers on Youth Violence: May 1, 1969

Thanks to the research of television critic David Bianculli and his TV Worth Watching site, do “tune in” below (7 minutes) as tough-as-nails Rhode Island Senator John O. Pastore is won over by the compelling words of Fred Rogers (just days ago at this writing, the 50th anniversary of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, on what was […]

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The New Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre

Dateline: February 14, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida. Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday had not coincided since the 1940s. The day began as an amalgam of frivolity and solemnity. It wound up a tragedy in Broward County. Violence in America. There’s an ongoing epidemic of Youth Violence. The American Mental Health Foundation […]

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Precipitants to Patient Assaults: A Worldwide View, 2013-17

He was quiet but definitely paranoid. The staff could agree on this. He refused to eat any of the hospital meals to avoid being poisoned. He was quite clear about this and would only eat commercially sealed prepackaged foodstuffs, such as corn chips. Nonetheless, he was quiet and usually cooperative. Still, the staff noticed that […]

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Staff Victims of Psychiatric Patient Assaults: A Worldwide Perspective, 2013-17

(Please also see Assaultive Psychiatric Patients: A Worldwide Perspective, 2013-17.) Patient assaults on health-care staff are a serious and worldwide occupational hazard for caregivers, all disciplines. These assaults may result in death, permanent or temporary disability, medical and legal expense, lost productivity, and severe psychological distress. They impair overall personal and institutional morale. Assaults may […]

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Assaultive Psychiatric Patients: A Worldwide Perspective, 2013-17

There are many types of human-perpetrated violence. However, there is one form of this violence that occurs on a daily basis worldwide and that receives limited media attention. That act of violence is an assault on a healthcare provider in a healthcare setting. Not all psychiatric patients are assaultive but some are, and these assaults […]

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Henry Kellerman’s There’s No Handle on My Door: Stories of Patients in Mental Hospitals Is Available as an Audiobook

Now available just in time for the 2017 holidays and New Year, this fascinating book probes institutional life via 9 unforgettable profiles. In the words of its author, Dr. Henry Kellerman: “The unalloyed truth is that I’m in thrall to idiosyncrasy. It can be said that I actually love pathology. Let me explain: It’s that […]

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Coping with Anxiety in an Age of Terrorism - Raymond Flannery

Coping with Anxiety in an Age of Terrorism Is Available as an Audiobook

This new book, by Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr., is the first of several planned titles from AMHF Books as an Audio title. Order on this link today! Of the print and ebook (Kindle) editions, Midwest Book Review, in part, praises: “Impressively informed and informative, thoroughly “reader friendly” in organization and presentation. Coping with Anxiety […]

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Coping with Anxiety in an Age of Terrorism - Raymond Flannery

For Mental Health Month: Excellent Advance Notice Coping with Anxiety in an Age of Terrorism by Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr. in the Midwest Book Review

Vogel’s Bookshelf Coping with Anxiety in An Age of Terrorism Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr. American Mental Health Foundation PO Box 3, Riverdale, NY 10471-0003 www.americanmentalhealthfoundation.org 9781590565605, $12.00, PB, 112pp, www.amazon.com Synopsis: The use of terrorism to promote a cause is a tragical reality of our times in almost every country in the world. It is […]

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Coping with Anxiety in an Age of Terrorism: the San Franciscio Chronicle op-ed by Evander Lomke

This op-ed by executive director Evander Lomke was published March 28, 2017, in the San Francisco Chronicle. The editorial covers the important work of PTSD authority Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr. in his cogent new book Coping with Anxiety in an Age of Terrorism. Anyone interested can now buy a copy of the book from which […]

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Violence by Raymond B. Flannery Ph.D., FAPM, Reviewed

From Holy Cross Alumni magazine, winter 2017, volume 51, number 1 “Violence: Why People Do Bad Things, with Strategies to Reduce that Risk By Raymond B. Flannery Jr. ’64 Lantern Books [distributor] In Violence: Why People Do Bad Things, with Strategies to Reduce that Risk, Flannery explores the question of violence and whether or not it […]

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Lady Gaga and PTSD

Huffington Post and other sources report on Lady Gaga’s appearance on Today discussing her battle with PTSD (see below). AMHF Books is one of the leading publishers of works (9) on PTSD, stress, and violence. In spring 2017, The American Mental Health Foundation will issue Coping with Anxiety in an Age of Terrorism by Dr. […]

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The Sixth Annual Report of The American Mental Health Foundation

This is the sixth Annual Report of The American Mental Health Foundation (AMHF), a research organization formed in 1924, incorporated in New York State December 31, 1954. In 2017, AMHF celebrates 93 years of philanthropic service and activities—“Advancing Mental Health: A Century of Excellence in Mental Health Research.”   Vision: Building a More Compassionate Society—Get Involved!   Mission: AMHF endeavors […]

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Terrorism: An Overview

Where was God? Dateline: Boston, Massachusetts, April 15, 2013 The day was perfect. Bright sunshine, a pleasant warmth. College student, Victoria McGrath, was excited. The Boston Marathon was a premier sports event. The crowd was excited as well. The enthusiasm was electric and Victoria positioned herself near the finish line, so as to have the […]

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New England Psychologist Reviews Violence by Dr. Raymond B. Flannery Jr.

Violence: Why People Do Bad Things, with Strategies to Reduce that Risk by Raymond B. Flannery Jr., Ph.D., FAPM, June 2016 New England Psychologist Reviewed by Kerry Morrison, Psy.D. This new publication by Raymond Flannery called Violence: Why People Do Bad Things, with Strategies to Reduce that Risk, serves as a useful handbook for understanding the […]

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Two recent notices There’s No Handle on My Door and Violence

AMHF Books has received two recent and superb notices of its books from Midwest Book Review. The first is for There’s No Handle on My Door: Stories of Patients in Mental Hospitals by Dr. Henry Kellerman (who is pictured) “In There’s No Handle on My Door, Henry Kellerman probes institutional life through nine fascinating profiles. […]

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