Positive Phase 3 Test of Rapid-Acting Oral Medicine for Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression affects 13% of mothers, and sometimes lasts for years.  This is a major step forward. Click here to read full article.

How Walking Can Build Up the Brain

Read at least the first sentence of this article.  You don’t have to be Charles Atlas to strengthen your brain function.  However, I think you’ll find the whole article worthwhile. Click here to read full article.

Nature as a Salve for Children With Autism

This article gives some practical ideas that most families could use if they have a family member on the spectrum.  And an added benefit is that many of those activities are either no-cost or low-cost. Click here to read full article.

‘Mommy Brain’ Is Real

This article is interesting.  And it is certainly true that parenting of infants and young children can produce stress that causes some frustrating cognitive issues.  However, the joys that come from children can counterbalance some of those frustrations, and the cognitive processes seem to recover as the children get older.

But also, when I was still teaching I would sometimes playfully talk about the “noun-loss” that we sometimes find happening as we get older.  My 25-year-old students would quickly tell me that it seems to happen to them as well.  So I think we need to be aware that we sometimes attribute phenomena to things that are actually not causing those experiences. Click here to read full article.

Landmark Endorsement for Brain SPECT Imaging in Psychiatry

In a few places, this article sounds like a thinly disguised advertisement for the Amen Clinic.  However, if you read the whole article you will get a good introduction to what SPECT scans can do for psychiatry and counseling. Click here to read full article.

You Have a Sixth Sense You Probably Aren't Using Yet

Fascinating article from Medscape Psychiatry about a sixth sense that most of us probably have but haven’t developed.  Article explains how you can learn to develop it.  However, it’s probably not true that we only have five or six senses.  Bill Bryson, who wrote the book The Body: A Guide for Occupants, claims we have 33.  If you want to read an enjoyable and credible book and only have time for one book this year (besides the Bible), this is the one I’d recommend.  My only quibble with Bryson is that page after page he describes truly amazing things about our human bodies, and then he still believes those wonderful bodies all arose from the mud through chance genetic mutations.  Modern genetic studies show that the chromosomes that guide the development of our bodies are akin to highly complex computer programs that surpass anything that even the most brilliant computer programmers can make.  Is it plausible that non-living mud can produce something like that?

But I’ve probably distracted you from this initial article.  It points out that we probably have a sixth sense that most of us haven’t developed and that we aren’t using. Click here to read full article. 

13 Survival Strategies for Moms with ADHD

This article is written by a mom with ADHD who also has two children with ADHD.  13 good, practical suggestions. Click here to read full article. 

Good Sports: Activities That Boost Self-Esteem, Social Skills & Behavior

This article gives examples of how different sports enhance some of the positive characteristics of their child’s personalities and encourages parents to allow children to choose the sport that accentuates the best features of their child’s personalities.  While it was written for parents of children with ADHD, I think the points it makes could be applicable to every family, whether or not their children have ADHD. Click here to read full article.

JAMA Peds Retracts Much-Hyped Masks Study

I gave you some incorrect information a couple weeks ago.  Please read this corrected information.

A couple weeks ago I included some research from Germany that said having young children wear masks resulted in unhealthy levels of carbon dioxide in their bodies.  The journal that published that research study has now retracted that information and explains why it is not valid.  So please don’t pressure your school board to not have children wear masks in school because of that.  We are still finding our way regarding COVID-19, and sometimes we make mistakes.  [See the comment below on Accurate Information on medical issues for more information on this issue.] Click here to read full article.

Phone Calls Spot Early Alzheimer's

This study found that analyzing speech from telephone calls could differentiate those with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease from healthy controls with 90% accuracy.  The researchers say that this could be helpful as a low-cost first screening of Alzheimers.  They do identify a couple weaknesses in their study, which found that individuals with early Alzheimers talked slower and had more pauses in their speech.  Another criticism of their study was that they didn’t have any temporal controls in their studies, i.e., some people just talk slower or faster normally.  Without having some long-term data means they would miss this important variable. Click here to read full article.

Why Jane Goodall Still Has Hope for Us Humans

This article is only tangentially related to counseling.  Jane Goodall is now 87, and still is actively engaged in her work of understanding the animal world.  This is an interview with her.  You probably won’t agree with everything she says, but I think her conversation can give all of us hope that even into our 80s we have the possibility of staying sharp and engaged in the world around us. Click here to read full article. 

The Original Feminist Plan for Women’s Equality: Marriage, Family, and Sexual Integrity

For those of us who have lived many years in America, we have seen several versions of feminism.  The author of this article, which describes a new book now available, describes this author’s vision of women’s equality this way: “In her new book, Erika Bachiochi presents a compelling vision of female equality and happiness that embraces a woman’s capacity for childbearing and encourages sexual virtue and strong marriages as an antidote to difficulties that abortion can never hope to solve.”

As a counselor, those of you who are women may have been looking for a model of feminism that speaks to women in this century.  This book may provide such a model. Click here to read full article.

Accurate Information on Medical Issues, Including COVID-19

Since information on COVID is just coming out, it’s sometimes hard to separate accurate information from misinformation.  I was talking with my son, a medical doctor at Jupiter Medical Center, and he recommended a site on Facebook called the “Unbiased Science project.” It is run by a friend of his who has a PhD is epidemiology and her friend who has a PhD in immunology. He says they have both done vaccine research and are very well-versed in all this data and they present the data in a very understandable way.

I just spent an hour listening to their discussion of accurate information versus myths and misinformation about COVID treatments and it was very worthwhile and informative.  If you have clients who have questions or concerns about receiving the COVID vaccines I’d highly recommend you tell them about it. 

Just today the American Association of Pediatrics recommended that children wear masks at school this Fall (contra the CDC), and these two scientists mentioned above give some of the reasons for this.  Children seem to be very vulnerable to the new U.K. variant and Delta variants of COVID.  The U.K. variant is 50% more transmissible than the original, and the Delta variant, which is the most active in the U.S. now, is four times more transmissible than original COVID.  Some children are getting very sick from these variants, unlike some of the older variants which only give children mild COVID.  I recommend you take the time to watch this discussion since it seems so hard to distinguish accurate information from misinformation right now. 

'Dealing With a Different Beast': Why Delta Has Doctors Worried

The Delta variant is reportedly four times as contagious as some other variants of COVID, and is causing people, including children, to become sicker.   If you have loved ones who aren’t getting vaccinated, please encourage them to get vaccinated for themselves and for their loved ones. Click here to read full article. 

‘Gold Standard’ Study Confirms COVID mRNA Vaccines Prevent Infection

The COVID vaccines were approved under an Emergency Use Authorization and were in tightly controlled conditions that don’t always represent the “real world.”  Here is the first “gold standard” study that represents real world efficacy and demonstrates that efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is even higher than in the initial studies.  Because of the new, more contagious variants, caution about COVID should still be observed. 

Two Good Articles about Executive Functions

The Educator’s Guide to Executive Functions: How to Understand and Support Students in Need

This is an excellent article to explain what executive functions are. Click here to read full article.

It’s Easy to Hover Over a Child with Executive Function Deficits. Don’t.

A good article for parents about how to nurture executive functioning in their children. Click here to read full article. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Henry Virkler