Stefan de Schill Award 2011
AMHF is proud to present this year’s Stefan deSchill Award to Suicide Prevention International. To read about the November 2009 award recipient, click here.
By: Evander LomkeCategory: News
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. […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Congratulations Peter Campanelli and New York City’s Institute for Community Living
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.States Cut Mental Health Funding
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.Trichotillomania and the DSM IV
Hair-plucking, as reported by Laurel Braitman in Cabinet, via the March 14, 2011, New Yorker, is listed under “Impulse-Control Disorders Not Otherwise Classified” in the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV. “She has observed enough ‘photos of mice and rats with little bald spots on their heads, reverse mohawks, or […]
By: Evander LomkeIt’s the Money, Stupid
This New York Times article on the state of talk-therapy in our time says it all. It is highly recommended to our readers. The article exposes many of the weaknesses in the field against which Dr. de Schill tirelessly campaigned. Welcome to the Brave New World of pills and revolving-door therapy. Money is in, and […]
By: Evander LomkeMore on Soldiers and Medication
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.Soldier Suicides
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.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 […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.DSM V Changes to Substance Abuse Disorders
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.OCD Letter from Able
An anonymous letter to the editor appears in the current (February 2011) issue of N.Y. Able Newspaper, “The Newspaper Positively For, By & About The Disabled,” which cuts to the heart of AMHF and its work. “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects six million Americans, two percent of the population. Sadly, OCD is very common and […]
By: Evander LomkeA 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 […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.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. […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.“When Love Stinks….”
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.AMHF on amazon
amazon books 5-star review of Erich Fromm. All American Mental Health Foundation titles are available on Kindle as well.
By: Evander LomkeFive-star Review of Erich Fromm in Midwest Book Review
“Four posthumously published titles by psychologist and social theorist Erich Fromm (1900-1980) offer Fromm’s psychology grounded in humanism. “Beyond Freud” (9781590561850, $25.00) is now published for the first time; it’s subdivided into “Man’s Impulse Structure and Its Relation to Culture” plus three lectures: “Psychic Needs and Society,” “Dealing with the Unconsciousness,” and “The Relevance of […]
By: Evander LomkeE. Fuller Torrey: Mandated Treatment Needed
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.Strains on College Mental-health Centers
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.Women, Depression, and Diabetes
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.“Skypeanalysis”
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 LomkeUnit Cohesion, Combat Exposure, and PTSD
Noting 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.On SSI and Medicaid: How Do You Find Good Mental-health Care?
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.Autism and Mitochondria
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.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 […]
By: Evander LomkeConfidentiality 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 […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.Happy Holidays
Like our colleague and board member Dr. William Van Ornum, I wish all our donors, book-purchasers, and good readers of this blog a Healthy, Happy, and Peaceful New Year. We will endeavor to be at the forefront of mental-health issues in 2011 as we have striven in 2010 and all past years. Please look for […]
By: Evander LomkeMerry Christmas
I would like to wish everyone who visits this blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It is a privilege for me to be able to share my thoughts on mental health with readers, and I hope that some of the insights are helpful. Let’s keep everyone who struggles with mental-health concerns in […]
By: William Van Ornum, Ph.D.ADHD Is Real, Says New York Times
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.William James Continued
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.
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