Counseling News from the Week of May 8, 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
“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”
DALAI LAMA
"When something is festering in your memory or your imagination, laws of silence don't work, it's just like shutting a door and locking it on a house on fire in hope of forgetting that the house is burning."
Tennessee Williams from "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."
Abraham Lincoln
“It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”
Seneca the Younger
"If you don't use your experience, your past is wasted, and you are betraying yourself."
Alan Shepard
"Keep working on a plan. Make no little plans. Make the biggest one you can think of and spend the rest of your life carrying it out."
Harry Truman
“Plato is my friend—Aristotle is my friend—but my greatest friend is truth.”
Isaac Newton
Fascinating Facts
Mathew Brady: The Photographer Who Helped Make Lincoln President
Abraham Lincoln credited the entrepreneurial photographer with helping him become president.
On Feb. 27, 1860, Abraham Lincoln sauntered into Mathew Brady’s New York studio for a photographic portrait. Lincoln was in town to give a speech at the Cooper Institute (today’s Cooper Union) highlighting his views of slavery, the most toxic political issue of the day. The intellectual power of Lincoln’s presentation would fuel the campaign that took him to the White House.
But while Lincoln’s verbiage was profound, the bony 6-foot-4 politician in a wrinkled suit was awkward and disheveled. When Brady asked to “arrange” his shirt collar and jacket, Lincoln quipped, “Ah, I see you want to shorten my neck.”
In the resulting photograph, Lincoln’s collar and bowtie were effectively turned up to camouflage his long neck. Brady maneuvered Lincoln into a statesman-style pose with a solemn expression while his left hand touched a pair of books arranged on stand. (I couldn’t copy the picture, which is impressive, but you can see it if you go to the article below.)
The image presented Lincoln as a man of great knowledge and fortitude and would be widely reprinted in newspapers and lithographs. Lincoln cherished that fateful day in New York, later commenting, “Brady and the Cooper Institute made me President.”
Brady went on to become a respected photographer and photographed many beautiful scenes in his lifetime.
Click here to read the full article
The One Invasive Species That Could Disrupt Ecosystems Worldwide
There is an animal here in Florida that could destroy ecosystems throughout the world--Burmese pythons--very large snakes that have become endemic in the Everglades. Often purchased in pet stores, eventually these snakes became too large to be kept as pets, so some careless owners dispose of them in the wild, where because they have no natural enemies they rapidly have taken over their environment. They are now threatening to invade neighboring states.
Click here to read the full article
Autonomous big rig completes first US freight run
Most of us are frightened by the idea of autonomous “big rigs” that have no driver and no remote person in control driving down the same roads as us. But this program designed by Bot Auto seems to have adequate safeguards built in. Its first autonomous big rig safely completed a 240-mile trip near Dallas, Texas. It’s designers say that it is programmed, when facing a difficult traffic situation, to slow down, create space and safely stop if it encounters a situation it cannot handle. The designers also say that the cost per mile driven is less using the autonomous program than if the big rig was operated by a human driver.
Click here to read the full article
Counseling Articles
4 things the 'Michael' Jackson movie got right and wrong about the king of pop
Although the movie about Michael Jackson’s music and life reportedly grossed $100 million in ticket sales in the first few days after opening, some are saying that it omits important parts of his life story, including his sexual abuse of several children. Here is a balanced article from the Christian Post.
Click here to read the full article
Reasonable doubt . . . and the resurrection
This article from Reasons to Believe makes the point that we all have some doubts about things and events: the question a judge asked her to consider is whether they are reasonable doubts. She talks about doubts skeptics have asserted about whether Jesus actually rose from the dead following his Crucifixion. She lists three of these doubts: (1) The belief that Jesus was only in a swoon when he was placed in the tomb, (2) that Jesus’ body was stolen by his disciples, and (3) that the disciples had a mass hallucination. She quickly dispatches each of these theories with logical arguments. If you have a client with doubts about whether Jesus actually died and miraculously rose from the dead, this short article may be helpful to them.
Click here to read the full article
Marital Horizons: The Motivating Power of Marriage for Young Men
This article is much better than the title might cause you to believe. It discusses the fact that there has been a complaint about the dearth of marriageable young men available. This author discusses some of the data that shows that young men and young women are healthier, happier and make more income if they get married, and suggests that there are ways that we as counselors, schools, churches, and a society can prepare young people for a marriage trajectory. Highly recommended to read.
Click here to read the full article
We Need the Doctrine of Hell
I read and passed by this article several times before deciding to read it. It’s from Christianity Today, but you can read it fairly inexpensively with a digital subscription to Christianity Today, which I think is a worthwhile investment. Reading the article was also surprising: it makes the point that some acts of inhumanity are so terrible that the perpetrators need an appropriate punishment.
Click here to read the full article
What 'The Drama' Gets Right—and Wrong—About Gen Z and Marriage
Since my wife and I rarely go to movies we seem to be unaware of the new genre of movies mixing horror with love. It’s a new kind of mixture, perhaps related to Generation Z, where the horror for Gen Z men and women is that by getting married they will lose their individuality, their freedom, etc. Apparently this new movie, “The Drama” gets it at least partially right, because the two protagonists eventually decide to get married even though they have fears. But the article does make you aware of how the Gen Z fears of both men and women can cause them to misinterpret even the most well-intentioned caring behaviors of the opposite-sexed partner as something to be afraid or suspicious of. Even if you don’t plan to see the movie, reading the article can make you aware of some of the fears Gen Z men and women face that may keep them from dating, or from dating successfully.
Click here to read the full article
The Left's Marriage Problem: Fewer Liberals Marry, and Liberal Teens Are Giving Up On It
This article covers some ground you may have heard before, but it covers it in an interesting way. Data demonstrates that conservative men and women tend to value marriage, get married earlier, and tend to be happier. Liberal women are likely to be cautious or avoid getting married, are less happy because popular culture tells them they will be happier if they remain independent and career-focused. Clearly if we are to move toward a marriage and family-affirming culture, something must be done to help liberal young men and women to change their thinking about marriage.
Click here to read the full article
Marriage: The Inequality Gap We Should Be Talking About
You may have seen articles like this (The Inequality Gap in Marriage) and wondered what they are talking about. This article talks about that inequality. The author begins by showing the data that says that children who grow up in two-parent families do better in life in a large number of ways, including the likelihood of completing college, eventually entering the middle class themselves, and being less likely to spend time incarcerated.
But the inequality referred to here is referred to as the “marriage penalty.” Unmarried people who have children often have more tax benefits than married couples. While this author recommends that we continue to show compassion and support the less-privileged, she encourages the federal government and states to remove marriage penalties and support policies that encourage young people to marry and raise children together.
Click here to read the full article
Just Diagnosed? 8 Helpful Things to Know About Living With Bipolar Disorder
Whenever someone learns they have a serious illness, it takes a while to adjust to that information. Here are eight suggestions from Tanya Hvilivitzky, who has lived with bipolar disorder successfully for many years. Good suggestions for anyone newly diagnosed or who is having problems living successfully with their bipolar.
Click here to read the full article
Born a Woman, I Spent Six Years Living as a Man. Then God Showed Me My True Identity.
A powerful story of how a young girl who suffered many challenges in her early life, completed psychological and gender change surgery, and lived for six years as a man. But her life fell apart, a pastor and his wife showed deep love for her, God told her that He wanted her to return to her identity as Kyla, and after some prayer she went to live with the pastor and his wife as she transitioned. She now leads a ministry to those suffering from gender dysphoria.
Click here to read the full article
Neither Optimism nor Pessimism: Hope is Better
The authors of this short blog from Breakpoint argue that we as Christians may not be optimistic (because there is sin and many challenges in the world) but neither do we need to be pessimistic (because we know that God will ultimately be victorious). A good reminder.
Click anchor to read the full article or go to Breakpoint.org if that doesn't work
We Took Away the Phones — Now What?
Jonathan Haidt has been instrumental in helping schools remove phones from the school environment so that better learning can occur there and students can relearn how to relate to their classmates. But Seth Kaplan explains another part of the solution—the return of community-based organizations, like the Scouts and neighborhood sports teams so that children can return to a more traditional childhood again. He reminds us that it is important for us as adults to foster involvement in these activities.
Click here to read the full article
Seven Ways “All Men Are Created Equal”
This seven-minute video is inspiring. It reminds us that the Founders of our country, as they wrote the Declaration of Independence, were very grounded in biblical principles (e.g., the separation of powers was rooted in the awareness that all human beings have a sin nature and so it is important that a government include checks and balances on any one person or group). And although the Founders, like all of us, were imperfect (some of them owned slaves themselves), the principles they put in the Declaration of Independence eventually led to the elimination of slavery in this country.
Click here to read the full article
Antidepressant Selection Tool Offers Insight on How to Personalize Care
There are 30 antidepressants, and doctors and psychiatrists don’t have a good way of determining which antidepressant will work best for a specific patient. That is probably because there are many neurotransmitters that can cause a person’s depression (if that depression is caused by a medical imbalance) and no objective way to determine which of the 30 antidepressants will work best for a specific individual. Many patients stop taking their antidepressant before it has an opportunity to provide its full benefit. Now an antidepressant tool, PETRUSHKA, is available to help doctors make that decision. Research claims that patients are 38% less likely to discontinue their medication when it has been recommended by PETRUSHKA: at 24 weeks, those patients had lower depression and anxiety scores.
Click here to read the full article
Looksmaxxing Risks Prompt Medical Warnings After Livestream Emergency
Looksmaxxing is the newest craze among young men. It involves various ways young men are using to make their faces look more masculine. “Hardmaxxing” involves methods such as using hammers to hit the face to supposedly change bones: “softmaxxing” use gentler techniques such as grooming and other ways to accomplish similar results. Medical experts recommend against this new trend, especially the hardmaxxing approaches.
Click here to read the full article
In Clinical Test, TMS Targeted Comorbid Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Separately, With Precision-Psychiatry Implications
For those of you interested in psychiatric research, depression and anxiety are often co-morbid, that is, they occur together. This study tested whether Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) that focused on two different sections of the brain, one of which was believed to be the primary activator of depression, and a second which was believed to be the primary activator of anxiety, would have different effects. Even though professional counselors can’t do TMS, if you are interested in the results, read the article.
Click here to read the full article
Did School Cellphone Bans Work? New Study Finds Mixed Results.
How YouTube Took Over the American Classroom
You won’t be able to read these two articles unless you have subscriptions to the New York Times or Wall Street Journal respectively, so I’ll summarize the major points of each. In those states that have implemented restrictions on cellphones during school hours, there have been positive reports of better learning environments in those schools. However, many schools allow students to use Chromebooks, and some students are amassing hundreds and even thousands of hours watching YouTube videos while in school, some of which are not friendly to family values. So it seems that schools which allow Chromebooks do need to implement some guidelines on their use.
Click here to read the full first article
Click here to read the full second article
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Henry Virkler