Counseling News from the Week of April 24, 2026
Explanation: Although I scan the Internet primarily for counseling articles, in the process I run across quotes and interesting facts that I sometimes include in these first two sections. If you’re just interested in the counseling articles, you can skip these first two sections and go directly to the section called Counseling Articles. HV
Interesting Quotes
“We will explore. We will build ships. We will visit again. We will construct science outposts. We will inspire—but ultimately, we will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other.”
Christina Koch, Artemis II astronaut
"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction."
Rachel Carson
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.”
Ovid
"You must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it."
Clara Barton
I am still learning.
Michelangelo
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
Thomas Edison
Saying nothing... sometimes says the most.
Emily Dickinson
"What more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue."
Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack" (1751)
Fascinating Facts
Etchmiadzin Cathedral: Oldest Cathedral in the World
Beautiful pictures and the fascinating story of the oldest cathedral in the world, composed of volcanic tuff, a substance formed when volcanos erupt and the ash is compacted to form rock.
Click here to read the full article
The Town in Alaska Where the Entire Population Lives Inside One 14-Story Building
An interesting article about a town in Alaska where the entire town, including homes, a grocery store, post office, church, medical clinic, and other services, all fit within one building. The only building remaining outside the 14-story building is the school.
Click here to read the full article
Counseling Articles
Beyond Romance: The Missing Element in Modern Relationships
This author discusses the fact that 1/3 of marriages end in divorce and that most people think dating is more difficult than before. She discusses some of the research that may cause people to believe that and what causes so many marriages to end in divorce. An increased number of people engage in “situationships”—relationships that are sexually intimate but contain no commitment to anything lasting. And from people who had one marriage that failed and then a second one that lasted, they regularly said that the second one included a shared commitment to a spiritual foundation. Research is saying that uncommitted sex or marriage that doesn’t contain a spiritual foundation are unlike to be lasting. If you do premarital, marital or family counseling I encourage you to read this article.
Click here to read the full article
Dealing with the Hurt Behind the Behavior
When a teen acts out parents are inclined to deal directly with the acting out. Mark Gregston has some really helpful suggestions for parents to look behind the behavior and then respond accordingly.
Click here to read the full article
The View Is Wrong. Gen Z Women Really Should Get Married.
The debate continues about whether young women will be happier if they marry and have children or if they pursue freedom and a career. 55% of single women believe they are happier than married women and many single women do not have children. But survey research does not support their belief. A General Social Survey from 2018 to 2024 found that young married moms are the happiest, followed by married women who do not have children, then much lower are unmarried moms and lowest are unmarried women who are childless. Nearly twice as many married mothers say they are “very happy” when compared to unmarried women without children. So the feminist’s assertion that women will be happiest if they remain single and childless and focus on their career seems to be contradicted by the evidence that says exactly the opposite.
Click here to read the full article
Alzheimer's Drugs Provide No Meaningful Benefit
Two new anti-amyloid drugs, which were designed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, appear to show no significant benefit in slowing cognitive decline or dementia in Alzheimer’s patients.
Click here to read the full article
Happily Divorced vs. Unhappily Married - Which is Better for Kids?
When couples are unhappy, is it better for their children if they divorce (and possibly discover happier lives) or stay married? The thinking of that time paved the way for no-fault divorce. This five- and one-half-minute video summarizes what the research says. There are many disadvantages to children living in two separate homes, and of those couples who stayed together, many found they could resolve their differences and become happy together.
Click here to read the full article
Sex differences in human brain gene expression may shape disease risk
Researchers using advanced brain scan techniques studied one-million brain cell scans and tried to understand why certain diseases, like Alzheimer’s and mood disorders are more common in women and diseases like schizophrenia and ADHD are more common in men. Although they found that the majority of differences in disease risk were probably due to differences in the XX and XY chromosomes, they did find some differences in cells that are considered “sex-influenced” cells.
Click here to read the full article
Subtle Signs of a Bipolar Mood Shift
We all have small shifts in our mood from day to day. But for bipolar patients, subtle shifts in mood can be more important because they can indicate one is heading into a major mood episode. Here is an article for bipolar clients about how to detect subtle shifts in mood that are important for them to pay attention to.
Click here to read the full article
Where Does Our Conscience Come From?
While not a counseling article nor one written from a Christian perspective, this article could be of interest to anyone who counsels. The secular theories include biological, psychological and social theories, and are interesting in explaining the factors that shape our conscience. As Christians, we believe that God plays a part in molding our conscience (and perhaps He was the Creator of our ability to develop conscience), but clearly these other factors do have an influence in shaping our consciences (e.g. the legalism of the Pharisees was clearly not from God but was shaped by social and psychological factors).
Click here to read the full article
Life’s Most Harmful Emotions
Hans Selye was a significant Canadian psychologist who wrote much about the effect of emotions on physical and psychological health. One of the most harmful of those emotions is resentment—unwillingness to forgive another. Secular therapy doesn’t have many answers about how to help people forgive, but this story illustrates how the Christian faith can often help people forgive and even come to embrace the people who caused harm to them.
Click here to read the full article
Largest U.S. Study Finds Teen Cannabis Use Linked to Slower Cognitive Development
A California School of Medicine study of more than 11,000 teens found that cannabis use is tied to slower gains in memory, focus and thinking speed as well as worse memory over time during the key years when the brain is developing in teens. I believe it is unfortunate that the Trump administration on Thursday decided to reclassify marijuana as a less harmful drug in light of this research.
Click here to read the full article
Dangerous Games: Kids Still Dying from Challenges in Social Media, Despite Bans
Parents who have lost children to suicide or dangerous games found on YouTube, TikTok or other social media platforms are taking social media companies to court in Los Angeles. Although some of these companies have instituted stronger age verification standards, teens have creative ways of getting around these standards. It seems that a primary responsibility is for parents to monitor their children’s use of and time spent on these activities. In the last couple days the Attorney General of Florida has said publicly that if ChatGPT were a person it would be taken to court after a student at a Florida University shot and killed several fellow students.
Click here to read the full article
“7 Reasons I Talk About My ADHD, Even When It Makes Me Cringe”
This adult talks about 7 reasons why he talks about his ADHD, and some of the ways it deepens relationships and sharing (others often sharing their struggles with him after he has shared about his struggles with ADHD). If you have clients who are embarrassed about some of their mental health struggles, this article might be helpful in encouraging them to be open about sharing their struggles with selected friends.
Click here to read the full article
10 Corrosive Thoughts That Are Holding You Back
Although this is written for people with ADHD, I think several of the ideas could be useful to anyone who struggles with thoughts about themselves and their own worthwhileness that are holding them back.
Click here to read the full article
22-Year-Old Battling Lung Cancer Given Months to Live— And No, It Wasn't Cigarettes
The tragic story of a 22-year-old who is given only months to live. The habit that apparently caused her lung cancer was vaping, once considered a less dangerous practice than smoking, but which appears to have risks of its own because young people breathe in the vapors deeply and hold them in their lungs.
Click here to read the full article
She Wanted a ‘Free Birth.’ It Put Her and Her Baby in Grave Danger.
This is from the New York Times, so you can’t read it without a subscription. Free birthing is often romanticized as having the pleasures of having a birth in the convenience and comfort of your home and was done by millions of women in years past. It has attracted the attention of a fair number of young women. If someone reads the article, I think most will recognize the dangers outweigh the benefits. A compromise is to have a professional midwife who is trained in home births and can give medical assistance and some medications and will refer a mother to a hospital when life-threatening complications develop. But too many children born “free-birth” are stillborn and their mothers die unnecessarily.
In the case of the woman who the article is based around, after experiencing difficulty went to the hospital, where the next day a healthy 8-pound baby was born. She had some serious medical issues of her own that were treated successfully in the hospital.
Click here to read the full article
Youth Suicides Declined After Creation of National Hotline
This is also from the New York Times, so you can’t read it without a subscription. (As I’ve mentioned before, even though the New York Times occasionally has some good articles, I don’t encourage purchasing a subscription since so many of it’s articles are extremely biased against anything or anyone conservative.) But this article describes how, since the implementation of the crisis hotline (988) the number of deaths by teens and young adults has decreased by 10 to 18% depending on the state. The number of deaths by elders has decreased by a smaller percentage (4.5%).
Click here to read the full article
Why Some People Are More Generous (and How You Can Be Too)
Many people believe that generosity is a fixed trait that someone either has or doesn’t have. Instead it appears to be a trait that can be developed. Studies show that people who are encouraged to notice what is happening around them and the activities of those around them can learn to become more generous.
Probably some of our clients are already quite observant of what is happening around them: others might benefit from us encouraging them to try this and see whether this changes how they interact with others.
Click here to read the full article
Is the Therapy Craze Causing a Mental Health Crisis?
This 17.5 minute video is worth watching. Recently a social media debate about this topic garnered a few million viewers. Josh Phillips talks about what he considers healthy therapy versus unhelpful therapy and supports his views with several articles from psychological journals. (You don’t need to watch any of the advertisements that occasionally appear. After about 5 seconds you’re given the option to skip each one.) While I think the Christian faith produces an even better answer than Phillips does, I think most counselors can get something helpful from his video.
Click here to read the full article
Compilation of Institute for Family Studies Research
Here is a compilation of 20 or more studies on personal happiness and a number of other topics with just a paragraph or so summary of each one. Very interesting compilation. It will only take a couple moments to read them and well worth your time.
Click here to read the full article
Does Dry Needling Really Relieve Pain?
This is from the New York Times, so you may or may not be able to read it (sometimes they allow people to read articles because they think they may be able to convince them to become subscribers). Dry needling involves inserting ultrathin needles into sore muscles. Sometimes nothing except the needle is inserted: sometimes it is moved around; sometimes small electrical currents are run through the needles. No one is certain why the process does reduce pain for some people, although the process has been approved by the American Medical Association since 2016 (not all insurances cover it). It should only be done by a trained professional, but when done by such is quite safe. Skeptics assert that it is not a long-term solution to pain.
Click here to read the full article
The 19 Dimensions that Constitute Positive Mental Health
Discussions of positive mental health have been plagued by variety of dimensions that have been identified and measured. This study attempted to compile a list of dimensions using a wide variety of sources, and came up with 19.
Click here to read the full article
I hope you’ve enjoyed these articles. Have a good week!
Explanation: Last week’s postings were delayed on the SFACC website and substack because of technical difficulties. If you didn’t get a chance to read April 17th posting I encourage you to do so. There were some good articles there.
Henry Virkler