A century ago, people with symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were sometimes institutionalized for life or treated with frightening operations such as frontal lobotomies.
Imagine taking a medication meant to heal you only to discover that the drug rotted your bones, made your teeth fall out, and filled you with a radioactive element called radium.
When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Cassie McCauley watched in horror from her classroom on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.
Millions of Africans die each year from infectious diseases, such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; from poor nutrition or lack of clean drinking water; or from diseases like measles and polio that have been conquered in developed countries through the use of vaccines.
Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among adolescents in the United States; in a recent study by the Gallup Youth Survey, 47 percent of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 said they know someone who has tried to take their own lives.
The Gallup Youth Survey has found that more than 80 percent of high school seniors have tried alcohol and that roughly a quarter of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 say it is very easy for them to get alcoholic beverages.
Today, obesitythe state of being very overweightis a problem that gets worse each year, particularly as many people spend less time exercising and more time on the couch or sitting at a computer.
