As director of research at the New England Center for Children, and associate scientist in behavioral sciences at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, Green focuses on developing methods to help people with autism and others with serious learning problems learn to actually communicate, "without the risks of facilitated communication." Green has attempted to use computer technology and research to understand how people with autism and other learning disorders learn, and then "translate that into bettor methods of teaching them various skills." By breaking down complex skills into simpler parts, and by using positive reinforcement, parents and teachers can help these children learn to reed and write. Unlike "miracle cures" such as Facilitated Communication, the behavior modification process can be "tedious," says Green. But, she adds, it works.
HERBERT BENSON, M.D. Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Founding President, The Mind/Body Medical Institute
By now it's almost commonplace to say that the functions of the mind affect the functions of the body. But when Herbert Benson, M.D., began his work more than three decades ago on the affect of stress on blood pressure, the idea was considered "absurd."
He recently told PSYCHOLOGY TODAY that 35 years ago "mind and body were Inexorably separated. I was told I was throwing away a very promising career. Each paper was a battle." And yet Benson's best-selling book The Relaxation Response was re-released this year with a 25th anniversary Introduction by the author.
As a young cardiologist, Benson discovered that his patients had particularly elevated blood pressure while visiting his office. He suggested that stress might be the reason. With research on monkeys and on the then-counter-culture practitioners of transcendental meditation, Benson scientifically proved the connection between tension and hypertension--and opened up a field that today is widely taught in medical schools and practiced, Benson estimates, by one-third of the American population.
The Relaxation Response was published in 1975 and in a matter of weeks climbed to the top of the New York Times Best-seller list. It challenged the 1960s and '70s love affair with medical technology, suggesting that there were alternative treatments to the miracle pills and medical equipment of the moment. To date, the book has sold almost four million copies and has been translated into 13 languages.
Today, as head of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Boston and an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, Benson has communicated his work the world over. His mind-body techniques, which have been developed collaboratively with other experts over the years, are in some ways quite simple: Focus on a mantra, a repeated sound or phrase, and passively disregard any Intruding everyday thoughts. And as Important as the stress management techniques themselves Is the person's belief in the system he or she is practicing.
These days "the Relaxation Response" is used to treat a wide variety of disorders: anxiety and depression, hypertension, allergies, muscle and joint pain, infertility, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, insomnia and even PMS. Research has also found benefits In dealing with the side effects of AIDS and cancer.
While pockets of resistance to these practices still exist, the Relaxation Response appeals to many because it offers both effective treatment and a certain Independence for patients. "People have learned," Benson says, "that they can empower themselves."
TIPPER GORE Mental Health Policy Advisor to President Clinton
Just moments before her husband announced his run for the presidency, the vice president's wife made an announcement of her own: Tipper Gore had suffered a debilitating depression that only dissipated after professional treatment with therapy and medication.
While some one in five Americans struggle with mental illnesses, depression prominent among them, Mrs. Gore's revelations marked an important moment in the public discussion of mental health. Here she was, a prominent figure with a great deal invested in her public image. And yet, despite the stigmas that surround mental illness and despite her husband's impending political campaign, she "outed" herself.
Mrs. Gore's efforts have since Put mental health on the American political agenda. With two degrees In psychology (a B.A. from Boston University in 1970, and an M.A. in psychology from George Peabody College at Vanderbilt University in 1975), 'she has been a leader In what's called the "parity movement," which would have Congress pass legislation forcing insurance carriers to offer mental health benefits equal to physical health benefits. She has been a driving force behind the current surgeon general's groundbreaking attention to mental health. And last year she brought these issues to political America with the first-ever White House Conference on Mental Health.
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