In the news: Betty Ford, former First Lady of the United States of America, has died. The much-beloved wife of President Gerald Ford died at the age of 93, as reported in the July 11, 2011, edition of The New York Daily News. Mrs. Ford was born in Chicago, reared in modest circumstances, became a […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.In Chicago, on June 20, 2011 Vice President
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Therese Borchard, associate editor of Psych Central, offers everyone 6 Tips to Help Summer Depression. She notes 5 causes of summer depression, as suggested by Dr. Ian Cook of the Depression Research Project at UCLA. The following 5 factors may contribute to summertime depression: disrupted summer schedules, body image issues (i.e., fitting into that swimsuit), […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.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 […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Rearing a child with autism brings challenges too many to mention. A particular sadness, recurring frequently, is the inability to travel with your child due to difficulties that occur in boarding airplanes. Many citizen without autism now avoid the flight lines and procedures, and drive, take the train, or just stay home. For young people […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.I was fortunate to be at the Boat Basin on Saturday morning May 7, 2011, when Evander Lomke, executive director of AMHF, presented Suicide Prevention International (SPI) with only the second Stefan de Schill Award. We were celebrating this at the West Side Boat Basin in Riverside Park. At least one-hundred enthusiastic persons, young and […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.All the flowers in bloom and their reflections made the Hudson River Valley look like a giant impressionist painting Friday and Saturday April 29 and 30. AMHF, along with Marist College School of Management, sponsored the Conference “Small Family Business, Big Family Stress” at the Dutchess Country Club in Poughkeepsie, New York. On Friday night […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Over at America magazine, Christopher Pramuk has written a sensitive and provocative article titled ” Hidden Sorrow: Praying through Reproductive Loss”. Part of the beauty of this article is that it makes others aware of the intense grief evoked by this kind of loss. I wrote an accompanying piece Hidden Sorrow, Chronic Sorrow about the […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Last year when my physician was away, I visited another doctor. It was a minor problem, but because of insurance regulations the new doctor was required to do a complete intake on me. This took roughly forty-five minutes, and throughout the entire interview he typed my answers onto a standard form that was on a […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.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. […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.On March 18, 2011, Daily News columnist Clem Richardson (who writes regularly on “Great People”) featured Peter Campanelli, chief of Institute for Community Living, a nonprofit that helps people with psychiatric disabilities. Richardson wrote about awards Campanelli had won: but interestingly, he was not yet aware of Campanelli’s most intriguing award. With over 150 submissions, […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.The New York Times reported on March 16, 2011 that nearly two-thirds of states have cut mental health funding from their budgets over the last two years, according to a report released by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). Alaska with 35 percent, and South Carolina and Arizona both with 23 percent made […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Alyssa Moirano, a student, writes in response to a recent blog: With the current war, I am well aware of the high number of soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder upon returning home to the United States. However, I was unaware of the long-term implications. It is scary to know that they are living each […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.On the blog for America, I have written about the sad fact that the number of suicides in the United States military exceeded the number of casualties due to warfare last year and the publication of a special issue of the American Psychologist examines this. The current issue of the American Psychologist is devoted to […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.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 […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.In the fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV-TR), there are separate categories for substance abuse and substance dependence. Writing in Counseling Today, the magazine of the American Counseling Association, K. Dale Jones notes that in the upcoming DSM V it is likely that these two categories will be eliminated […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.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 […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.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. […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.For many, problems in relationships can evoke bitter sadness and even more-lasting problems with depression. Intimate relationships are complex. Each is different. When a relationship works it can be wonderful. It is typically inexplicable. Probably every newspaper in America has a columnist specializing in relationship advice. Many times, part of the advice is to see […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.E. Fuller Torrey, psychiatrist and author of Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual, writes in the Wall Street Journal about the necessity of mandated treatment and the responsibility of public-health authorities to monitor those severely mentally ill persons who need this. Torrey writes… “The killing of six people in Tucson is one more sad episode in […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Tragic events this past week in Arizona, involving Jared Lee Loughner, have once again brought to public awareness the question of treatment for seriously disturbed people who live in our midst, and in particular the issues concerning what to do when one of them is a college student and his or her behavior is a […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Dr. Sanje Gupta reported this week on results of a large-scale study among women that examined what happens when depression and Type II diabetes co-occur: “Researchers who published the data in the Archives of General Psychiatry looked at more than 78,000 women between the ages of 54 and 79 who were participating in the famous […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.The New Yorker has run a fascinating article by Evan Osnos. Osnos covers China for the magazine, writing on other subjects like His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The article under review is about the Chinese meeting Sigmund Freud. As Dr. Stefan de Schill correctly predicted, there has been a resurrection of psychoanalysis. But it is […]
By: Evander LomkeNoting that combat exposure is a consistent predictor of posttrauatic stress (PTS), researchers reported in the Journal of Counseling and Development (Volume 89 Winter 2011 pp. 81-88) that unit cohesion may be an important factor to take into account regarding PTS, and that good unit cohesion may attenuate PTS as well as subsequent depression. “The […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.One of the readers of CNN.com wrote in and asked how one goes about finding good mental-health care if one is on SSI and Medicaid. This particular respondent also is limited in transportation. Following is the helpful response. “I have been thinking for a number of weeks about your question. I wish I could tell […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.An article in The Economist, Explaining Autism: Energy drain, suggests that one of the causes of autism may be faulty mitochondria. Mitochondria serve as the power-packs for other cells in the body, especially nerve cells. They take apart sugar molecules and in this process energy that can be used by other cells in the body […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Most readers here probably acknowledge the existence of ADHD: as something they themselves suffer from or as something they know as “true” from its presence in a family member or close friend. Yet it is interesting that a case needs to be made for the existence of this problem. Dr. Perri Klass does so in […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Last summer I was privileged to be able to reexamine and write about William James and his study of religion and mental health. Although James was aware that religious experiences could lead to or accompany emotional problems, and he used the term sick soul to speak of this, he was fundamentally intrigued by how religion […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Some physicians, not satisfied with the paperwork, intrusive regulations,and reimbursement delays and problems in the medical field, as well as salary limits, which they believe are not fair for the level of responsibility entailed in medicine, are opting out of the field and starting so-called concierge practices. In a concierge practice, a physician, usually an […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.
Box 3 Riverdale NY 10471-0003
© 2026 American Mental Health Foundation
Site design and hosting by 
Host Companion