1. Pat wants to be a clinical psychologist. She wants to learn more about the different mental disorders and their treatment. She can find an extensive overview of the disorders, their classifications, and their treatment by going to the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy:

2. Bonnie's brother suffered from major depression for many years until he ended his life last fall. In a support group, she became friends with Tad, whose father had also committed suicide after a lifetime of dealing with bipolar disorder. They want to know more about the mood disorders and suicide so they can help other people deal with these disorders and will know what to do if they believe someone is suicidal. Among the resources that are available to them are the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance; The National Institute of Mental Health's vast library of information on mental health and mental illness, including a four-page article titled “Frequently Asked Questions About Suicide"; and National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, which provides a link to facts about brain disorders and conditions "from A to Z":

3. "What's the weirdest phobia you can think of?" Anil asked his friends. "Once I heard about someone being phobic about clocks, which is called chronomentrophobia—that's pretty weird, isn't it," replied Khalifa. "Okay—what about fear of numbers, or arithmophobia!" Jamal retorted. Anil and his friends can have lots of fun exploring phobias from A to Z (no Q's or Y's) and going to interesting links to learn how phobias are named and how they're treated. If they're interested in anxiety disorders generally, such as social phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, they can get more academic information at the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA):

4. "Reading about all the mental disorders makes my head spin. What I want to know is how to stay healthy!" quipped Alice. "It's good to know about abnormality, but what about normality?" Besides finding more on psychological disorders, Alice can learn how to protect herself and her loved ones—or deal with those who do have problems—at the American Psychiatric Association's Healthy Minds website:

5. Anita was remembering one of her old boyfriends whom she totally adored. "I just learned that he had a sex change operation. I know she's still the same beautiful person on the inside, I just have to take some time to integrate that someone I found so sexually attractive as a man is now a woman," she mused. As Anita and her friends started talking about transsexualism, the conversation moved to other aspects of the sections on sexuality that they had been studying in psychology class, including sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias. They can get a lot more information about all of these topics at the Merck Manual site, AtHealth.com, and MedlinePlus:

6. "I'll tell you what really scares me AND angers me," stated Camille, "people who prey on kids." "Me, too," Charlie agreed, "I think those people should be locked up and they should throw away the key!" "Don't you think pedophiles can be rehabilitated?" Will asked. "Would you like to take that chance?" asked Camille. "My big concern," continued Charlie, "is making sure that kids are safe and know how to protect themselves." Camille, Charlie, and Will can get information about all of these concerns by going to The State of Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services to learn about the Sexual Predator Treatment Program; Geocities' “Education Is the Key to Your Child's Safety” site that provides information about sexual predators, how to educate children and keep them safe from predators, and steps to take to reduce the risk of children being lured into dangerous situations by sexual predators on the internet; and ProtectKids, which discusses how to protect children from pedophiles on the Internet:

7. Harvey approached Professor Lipsey after class and confided that he has family members with serious psychological problems. They refuse to get counseling and Harvey doesn't know what to do. In addition to directing Harvey to the college health services where he can talk to a counselor, Professor Lipsey also suggested that Harvey can gain a lot of insight by checking out the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), which offers a wide range of resources and support for individuals and their families who are affected by psychological disorders, as well as on-going local and national activities:

8. "I quit my job," Nancy said. "My boss was pressuring me to have sex with him. I think I should probably file a complaint but don't know how to do that." She can learn about sexual harassment, the laws against it, how to file a claim, and much more by going to the website of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: