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The Talented Mr. Madoff By JULIE CRESWELL and LANDON THOMAS Jr. /snip An easy answer is that Mr. Madoff was a charlatan of epic proportions, a greedy manipulator so hungry to accumulate wealth that he did not care whom he hurt to get what he wanted. But some analysts say that a more complex and layered observation of his actions involves linking the world of white-collar finance to the world of serial criminals. They wonder whether good old Bernie Madoff might have stolen simply for the fun of it, exploiting every relationship in his life for decades while studiously manipulating...

People who are more laid back are less likely to develop dementia in old age, a study has suggested. Research published in the journal Neurology asked 500 healthy elderly people to fill out questionnaires about their personalities. Those who were calm and relaxed had a 50% lower risk of developing dementia during the six years of the study. UK experts said it offered "compelling evidence" of the need to be "socially active throughout life". There are 700,000 people with dementia in the UK. That number is expected to rise to over one million by 2025 and 1.7 million by 2051....

“The Illinois Tobacco Quitline is just busting at the seams this month,” said Sherrill Keefe, director of American Lung Association of Illinois-Greater Chicago. “People say, ‘This is the year I’m going to quit smoking.’” But members of the LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender) community are 35 to 200 percent more likely to be smokers than the general public, according to the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network based in Boston. Karyn Haney, a lesbian who quit smoking three years ago this January, is the project coordinator for Chicago's Howard Brown Health Center’s “It’s a Bitch to Quit” smoking cessation program. The center launched its...

Autism Cases On The Rise In California, Study Suggests ShareThis Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - A new study suggests cases of autism are indeed on the rise in California, and chemicals and infectious microbes, not genetics, could be the cause.The study, by the University of California David M.I.N.D. Institute, concluded that California has seen a seven-to-eight-fold increase in the amount of children born with autism since 1990. The study was published in the January 2009 edition of the journal Epidemiology. UC Davis researchers said study of the changes in the neurodevelopment of children should shift in focus away from genetic...

GAINESVILLE - A blond girl heads from a playground into a women's restroom. A scruffy man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. ``Your City Commission Made This Legal,'' the words on the TV screen read. And it's true, sort of. The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city's anti-discrimination ordinance, which now allows the city's roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they're most comfortable using. Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city surrounded by...

A spinster who obsessively hoarded clothes died in her home after a mountain of suitcases fell on her, burying her alive. Joan Cunnane, 77, owned 300 scarves as well as thousands of trinkets and valuables. They took up so much space in her bungalow that she had only a 2ft-wide path to get around them, and her car and garage were packed with other goods. After she was reported missing earlier this week, it took police searching her home two days to sift through her possessions. Miss Cunnane was eventually found buried under a 3ft pile of cases in a...

The cross-dressing Harvard-educated millionaire dermatologist who murdered his wife in their North Shore home in 2000 was found dead in his cell at MCI-Norfolk last night after he hanged himself, prison officials tell the Herald. Dr. Richard Sharpe – who was also charged with hatching a plan to escape from jail shortly after he was charged with murder – was found in his cell at 7:26 p.m. last night, said Department of Correction spokeswoman Diane Wiffin. Wiffin said Sharpe, who blasted his wife in the chest with a shotgun, hanged himself with a bedsheet. According to a prison source, a...

Monday January 5, 2009 Doctors Urge Puberty Blockers for Children Considering Sex Change By Kathleen GilbertCHEVY CHASE, Maryland, January 5, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An international medical organization has recommended that children as young as 12 who question their sexual identity should be given drugs to block the physical changes of puberty.The New Scientist reports that the injunction comes as part of a set of guidelines, the first of its kind, published last month by the Endocrine Society.  The “Guidelines For Health Organisations Commissioning Treatment Services For Trans People” call for healthcare administrators around the globe to provide full coverage...

Bernie's funda-mental defense Sunday, December 28th 2008, 4:34 AM If you thought Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion investment scheme was audacious, get ready for his alibi. Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear. “Bernie’s family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line, he had a mental break,” says a Madoff acquaintance. “They may even say he has a multiple personality disorder.” Madoff’s grip on reality does show signs of slipping. The 70-year-old financier, now a prisoner of his East Side penthouse, wore a weird smile when he was photographed shortly after his Dec....

Now, his [First Sergeant Jeff McKinney] family says, he's a casualty of war. Two wars really: the war in Iraq, where he served honorably, and the war within the military over how to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. On July 11, 2007, McKinney, serving on his second tour, killed himself in front of his men. He had endured months of sleeplessness, nightmares and guilt over losing so many of the soldiers he commanded. ... Commanders at one army base posted a fake "Hurt Feelings Report" -- portraying a crying cartoon face -- to mock soldiers seeking help for combat stress....

We've all seen a dog endlessly chase its tail and wonder to ourselves, why do they do that? Now researchers believe those strange animal behaviors may actually be a psychiatric disorder. Deborah Santti was worried about her 10-month-old German Shepherd named Lucas. "It was out of control," she said of his constant tail chasing. Finally she decided to bring him to Tufts University animal behaviorist, Dr. Nick Dodman. The diagnosis: obsessive compulsive disorder. "OCD in pets is a real phenomenon," he explained. It's the same condition that affects millions of Americans who deal with obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors like...

In the winter of 2000, the Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study indicating that 200,000 two- to four-year-olds had been prescribed Ritalin for an “attention disorder” from 1991 to 1995. Judging by the response, the image of hundreds of thousands of mothers grinding up stimulants to put into the sippy cups of their preschoolers was apparently not a pretty one. Most national magazines and newspapers covered the story; some even expressed dismay or outrage at this exacerbation of what already seemed like a juggernaut of hyper-medicalizing childhood. The public reaction, however, was tame; the...

The paper ties together the evolution in my train of thought concerning the veteran or soldier consumed by the ravages of full blown PTSD. The paper is long, but relevant to the plight of our returning combat soldiers and veterans. If you want to understand more about why a veteran or soldier runs afoul with law and society then you should read this.

WASHINGTON – Just when liberals thought it was safe to start identifying themselves as such, an acclaimed, veteran psychiatrist is making the case that the ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder. Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave." While political activists...

Thirteen-year-old Saja Abdulla waves goodbye to her U.S. friends after a recent visit to her home. Photo by Maj. Deanna Bague, Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office. BAGHDAD — Ten-year-old Ali Abdulla sat on the edge of his bed with rods and pins holding his leg bones in place, but still managed to smile when he spoke affectionately of two Soldiers he said touched his life. “I love them a lot because they have a big heart,� said Ali through an interpreter. “They are very special people in my life.�Ali was referring to Lt. Col. Rhonda McGuire, a public affairs officer...

Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind. The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment. One expert said personality disorders may be overdiagnosed. But others said the results were not surprising since previous, less rigorous evidence has suggested mental problems are common on college campuses...

CHICAGO — Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind. The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment. ... Experts praised the study's scope — face-to-face interviews about numerous disorders with more than 5,000 young people ages 19 to 25 — and said it spotlights a...

CHICAGO (AP) - Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind. The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment. One expert said personality disorders may be overdiagnosed. But others said the results were not surprising since previous, less rigorous evidence has suggested mental problems are common...

Let us, for a moment, rewind to the year1970. In this year, same-gender sex activists began a program of intimidation aimed at the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Activist Frank Kameny states the movement’s objective clearly, “I feel that the entire homophile movement…is going to stand or fall upon the question of whether or not homosexuality is a sickness, and upon our taking a firm stand on it…” (The Gay Crusaders, by Kay Tobin and Randy Wicker, p. 98) In 1970, psychiatrists generally considered sexual desires toward members of one’s own gender to be disordered. Karoly Maria Kertbeny’s term, “homosexual” was...

The human mind can be mystifying in its capacity to accommodate both disability and genius in the same person, as 60 Minutes found in a little boy named Rex. Rex was born blind, with brain damage so severe it looked as though he would never walk, talk, or do much of anything. And yet he has a talent few of us can imagine. To understand Rex’s brain would be to unlock mysteries of language, memory, and music. Correspondent Lesley Stahl has followed Rex and his mother, Cathleen, for several years now; she first met them in 2003.

By the time she was 8 years old, J.B. had been hospitalized 200 times and had undergone more than 40 operations, including the removal of most of her intestines. K.C., a 2-year-old boy, was hospitalized more than 20 times due to complications from asthma, severe pneumonia, mysterious infections, and sudden fevers. His doctors were baffled and unable to determine the cause of these illnesses. Productive Americans who work hard, play by the rules, pay their bills and live within their means have lost nearly half of their net worth in 2008. Politicians scramble to stop the bleeding, but nothing they...

Passionate intensity, but little rationality, in the anti-immunization movement Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, by Paul A. Offit (Columbia University Press, 328 pp., $24.95) For some reason, the immunization of children has always aroused opposition of almost religious fervor. For example, a mass movement led resistance to smallpox vaccination in Britain for 70 years and was supported by intellectuals of the stature of George Bernard Shaw, who never believed in the germ theory of disease and thought that Pasteur and Lister were charlatans. Politicians have won or lost elections on their attitude...

If you think they're out to get you, you're not alone. Paranoia, once assumed to afflict only schizophrenics, may be a lot more common than previously thought. According to British psychologist Daniel Freeman, nearly one in four Londoners regularly have paranoid thoughts. Freeman is a paranoia expert at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College and the author of a book on the subject. Experts say there is a wide spectrum of paranoia, from the dangerous delusions that drive schizophrenics to violence to the irrational fears many people have daily. "We are now starting to discover that madness is human...

CLEVELAND -- R&B singer Sean Levert entered the Cuyahoga County Jail on March 24 clutching the prescribed medication he took regularly for anxiety. Jail staff took the bottle of Xanax away from him and failed to give him a single pill during the six days he was there, investigators said. Even when he began suffering horrifying delusions, he wasn't given his medication and never saw a doctor. Instead, on March 30, jailers strapped Levert into a restraint chair, still fighting the monstrous visions in his head caused by withdrawal from the medication. Minutes later, the 39-year-old son of O'Jays star...

Are males becoming an endangered species? That's the question scientists and researchers have been pondering since alarming trends in male fertility rates, birth defects and disorders began emerging around the world. More and more boys are being born with genital defects and are suffering from learning disabilities, autism and Tourette's syndrome, among other disorders. Male infertility rates are on the rise and the quality of an average man's sperm is declining, according to some studies. But perhaps the most disconcerting of all trends is the growing gender imbalance in many parts of heavily industrialized nations, where the births of baby...

Barack Obama - Narcissist or Merely Narcissistic? Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 8/13/2008 Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist. Granted, only a qualified mental health diagnostician can determine whether someone suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and this, following lengthy tests and personal interviews. But, in the absence of access to Barack Obama, one has to rely on his overt performance and on testimonies by his closest, nearest and dearest. Narcissistic leaders are nefarious and their effects pernicious. They are subtle, refined, socially-adept, manipulative, possessed of thespian skills, and convincing. Both types equally lack empathy and are ruthless and relentless...

Reduced ability to name smells by hyperactive children has revealed for the first time a link between an impaired smell processing and the disorder. The one-year-study of 88 children aged six to 16 - 44 with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - was led by the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute. It shows how the children with ADHD had reduced ability to identify odours. The study was published in September's Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The study involved using scratch and sniff tests of common smells such as orange, chocolate and pizza. Felicity Karsz of University of Melbourne's...

The 2008 presidential election in America is the most crucial election in this country's history, not because the issues are that critical but because of Sen. Barack Obama. The Democratic presidential candidate's language, posture and demeanor suggest that he may suffer from narcissistic personality disorder, or NPD. NPD is a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and a lack of empathy. The following are some of the symptoms of NPD that can be seen in Sen. Obama: He subtly misrepresents facts, opportunistically shifts positions, ignores data that conflict with his fantasy world, is overly confident and acts presidential despite...

LONDON - A new study in the United Kingdom has revealed that homosexuals are about 50% more likely to suffer from depression and engage in substance abuse than the rest of the population, reports Health24.com. After analyzing 25 earlier studies on sexual orientation and mental health, researchers, in a study published in the medical journal BMC Psychiatry, also found that the risk of suicide jumped over 200% if an individual had engaged in a homosexual lifestyle. These findings strongly support the results of similar studies conducted in the United States, which have unveiled the severe physical and psychological health risks...

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin touched on a lot of issues Wednesday night. One of the most emotional was her message for families with special needs children. When Palin introducer her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, to the nation Wednesday night, she touched the hearts of millions nationwide. "Children with special needs, inspire very, very special love," Palin said. "For years you've sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters and I pledge to you if we're elected, you'll have a friend and an advocate in the White House." On Thursday, CBS 2...

Down syndromeDefinitionDown syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes mental retardation and other problems. The condition varies in severity, so developmental problems may range from mild to serious. Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of severe learning disabilities in children, occurring in one in every 700 infants. Every year, as many as 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome in the United States. The condition is named after John Langdon Down, the doctor who first identified the syndrome. There's no medical cure for this condition. But increased understanding of Down syndrome and early interventions make a big difference...

Our insane mental health system Faith-based finalists: The poorest among us are those who’ve lost their minds, according to psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey | Marvin Olasky I first heard E. Fuller Torrey critique America's mental health non-system nearly two decades ago—and the evidence of breakdown has only increased since then. The mentally ill now form probably half of the homeless and prison populations. Exploited and victimized by others, and often terrorized by their own phobias, they are a threat to themselves and to others, causing one-tenth of the homicides in the United States. Torrey, a psychiatrist who specializes in helping...

August 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A report from the American Psychological Association (APA) published this week claims that there is no meaningful connection between abortion and subsequent psychological disturbances in women. When a woman has a negative psychological consequence, says the report, it is likely only to be in cases where a "wanted" child was aborted for eugenic reasons. "Among adult women who have an unplanned pregnancy the relative risk of mental health problems is no greater if they have a single elective first-trimester abortion than if they deliver that pregnancy," the report says. The study's conclusions dovetail neatly...

OSLO, Norway, August 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A 2008 study by the University of Oslo in Norway has found that young adult women who have had abortions are more likely to become depressed.The study, which involved 768 women between the ages of 15 and 27, was carried out in order to "investigate whether induced abortion was a risk factor for subsequent depression."According to Willy Pedersen from the University's Department of Sociology and Human Geography, who conducted the study, past studies have suffered in accuracy due to bad design, specifically a lack of control of "compounding factors." The new study strove...

Last week, radio talk-show host Michael Savage talked about autism: I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, `Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.” I’m not an impartial observer here. My six-year-old son has high-functioning autism. He is exactly the...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― Their colorful shops line the streets, catering to their own culture and drawing in ours. Beginning in 1993, Somali people began arriving in Minnesota from refugee camps in Kenya. By that time, Somalia's political chaos had led to the killing or starvation of many of its people. For refugees, Minneapolis offered a place to start a new life, a new business, or a new family. "Many things attracted Somalis to Minnesota to stay. Good health cover and good education," said Huda Farah. Farah works on refugee resettlement with the Minnesota Department of Health. It's through her work...

A New York contractor was committed to a psychiatric ward when he broke through walls to retrieve a lost cat -- an animal doctors thought was a delusion. Chris Muth got out of the hospital after four days, the New York Post reported. The lost cat, Rumi, spent somewhat longer, 15 days, in the bowels of a Brooklyn church being converted into apartments. Muth said he panicked at the thought of losing Rumi when the cat wandered off because he was caring for it for a friend. After going through a hole in a wall, Rumi fell down a shaft....

In an e-mail obtained by NEWSCHANNEL 13, former New Life Church Pastor Ted Haggard admits to sexual contact with a gay escort and using drugs. This is the first public revelation of what Haggard claims is the full story of what happened between him and his accuser, Mike Jones. Haggard sent the e-mail to close family friend Kurt Serpe back in October. In it, he writes: "I was referred to Mike Jones from the concierge at a Marriott hotel when I asked for a masseur." The e-mail then becomes more detailed and sexual in nature.

Obsessive internet use is a public health problem which is so serious it should be officially recognised as a clinical disorder, according to a leading psychiatrist. Sufferers spend unhealthy amounts of time playing online games, viewing pornography or emailing. They suffer four symptoms: They forget to eat and sleep; they need more advanced technology or more hours online as they develop 'resistance' to the pleasure given by their current system; if they are deprived of their computer, they experience genuine withdrawal symptoms; And in common with other addictions, the victims also begin to have more arguments, to suffer fatigue, to...

About 2.5 million children in the United States take stimulant drugs for attention and hyperactivity problems. But concerns about side effects have prompted many parents to look elsewhere: as many as two-thirds of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or A.D.H.D., have used some form of alternative treatment. The most common strategy involves diet changes, like giving up processed foods, sugars and food additives. About 20 percent of children with the disorder have been given some form of herbal therapy; others have tried supplements like vitamins and fish oil or have used biofeedback, massage and yoga. While some studies of...

THE SOCIETY of Nuclear Medicine has been touting a new study that suggests we're one step closer to solving the riddle of social anxiety disorder. Researchers believe the origins of the disorder are biological. This sounds like a breakthrough worth celebrating. "Social anxiety disorder affects approximately 15 million American adults," the press release declares, and is "the third most common mental disorder in the United States, after depression and alcohol dependence." But what are its symptoms? A "fear of being evaluated by others, with the expectation that such an assessment will be negative and embarrassing." Once you start calling fear...

Thomas—who changed sex ten years ago but kept his ovaries and womb so he could have children—told us: "I feel on top of the world. "I'm 36 weeks now and almost due but I feel fantastic. Every day Nancy a nd I think about how we just cannot wait to hold our daughter for the first time, to finally get to touch her and see her face. "We have her nursery ready and her diapers are lined up in her bedroom. Everything is ready to go. "We have even picked a name which we both love—although we're waiting until she...

We may have MORE babies Exclusive: Dad-to-be reveals joy..just 4 weeks before HE is due to give birth THESE extraordinary new pictures show the world's first pregnant man—captured just four weeks from the birth of his baby girl. In an exclusive and moving interview with the News of the World, sex-change dad Thomas Beatie and his wife Nancy tell of their joy. And he reveals unseen family snaps of his astonishing early life as a teenage beauty queen. "I feel fantastic," he said. "I cannot wait to see my baby's face." In a tender and intimate moment, Thomas shares a...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Long-time homosexual activist Frank Kameny's claim to fame is successfully manipulating the American Psychiatric Association into declassifying homosexuality as a mental disorder, and today the Smithsonian honoree is now busily advocating bestiality "as long as the animal doesn't mind."Kameny, 83, has had a long career advocating the removal of any restrictions on human acts long considered by sane societies as obscene, dangerous, and disordered. However the octogenarian has a new mission to complement his current campaign to pressure the APA to ban reparative therapy for homosexuals. Kameny describes his mission as "Americanism in...

A bill that would have altered procedures around newborn genetic testing and blood-sample storage in Minnesota ran into a veto Tuesday. Gov. Tim Pawlenty said while he supports the testing done at birth for medical disorders, he wasn't convinced the bill gave parents enough power to keep a child's samples from being used in long-term research. An estimated 73,000 newborns are tested each year, and approximately 140 are found to have a confirmed medical disorder. Early diagnosis can help bring about earlier intervention. Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said the veto undermines the program and defies a promise he said he...

The woman who can remember everything Last updated: 10:15 AM BST 09/05/2008 A woman who has baffled doctors with her ability to remember every detail of every day has broken her anonymity to speak of her condition. Jill Price, 42, can remember every part of her life since she was 14 but considers her ability a curse as she cannot switch off. She described her life as like a split-screen television, with one side showing what she is doing in the present, and the other showing the memories which she cannot hold back. Every detail about every day since 1980...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A 3-year-old Florida boy with a rare condition has not slept in three years. Doctors said Rhett Lamb of St. Petersburg apparently has a condition called chiari malformation that puts pressure on his brain. Click here to find out more! Rhett has never taken a nap or gone to sleep at night, forcing his parents to keep watch day and night. "(My husband) has the day shift and I kind of have the afternoon shift," mother Shannon Lamb said. "We share the night shift because no one can sleep in the house when he is up...

Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday. A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years," said John Walters,...

'Open dialogue' will have to wait until next time. Under pressure from a homosexual bishop and his friends, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has canceled a May 5 event in Washington, D.C., that promised “balanced discussion” on the origins and treatment of homosexuality. The pro-homosexual speakers — Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual Episcopalian in New Hampshire, and Dr. David Scasta, past president of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists — had sought “common ground and new perspectives” with two conservatives: Dr. Albert Mohler, president of South Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of the Focus on the Family...

Gay marriage does not work - men are just too predatory, says Pete BurnsBy JAMES TAPPER - More by this author » Last updated at 22:23pm on 3rd May 2008 Comments When he flashed his engagement ring on the sofa with Richard and Judy, pop star Pete Burns told of his happiness at the prospect of becoming the latest celebrity to marry his male partner. But now, just ten months after the big day, the singer has split from Michael Simpson, saying civil partnerships do not work and that he was happier being married to a woman. Burns, 49, who...