43K Nigerian Christians killed, 18K disappeared in last 12 years: NGO report

This is not a counseling article, but I include it just to encourage us all to pray for the Christians in Nigeria and other countries who are undergoing persecution, torture and sometimes death because of the faith in Christ.  Please pray as you remember them. Click here to read full article.

Having Polio Was a Privilege, Not a Punishment

If you have a client or a friend who is angry with God because of an illness or a chronic medical condition, this might be a helpful article to share with them.  It is a heart-warming story of a young woman who for many years was angry with God because of her polio and the disabilities that came from it, but who experienced God’s love, and the difference it made. Click here to read full article.

8 Olympic Medalists Who Give Glory to God

You might be tempted, as many have been, to turn off news of the Olympics because of all the “woke” controversies and bitterness against our country.  Let me encourage you to read this article and see that there are still some committed Christians who want to give glory to God for their lives and their victories.  I encourage you to take five minutes to renew your perspective on some of these amazing young men and women. Click here to read full article.

THE AGES & STAGES OF ADHD: A SPECIAL REPORT (PART ONE)

This is the first of a five-part series, talking about the specific challenges of working with children ages 6-12 who have ADHD, and some very practical suggestions for dealing with each of those challenges.  If you work with families of children, teens, or adults with ADHD I think you’ll find this series very useful. The next three parts will address each age group, and the last part will deal with medications. Click here to read full article.

Porn and Parenting: How Pornography Affected My Journey as a Mom

Here is a very open and honest discussion by a mother of two young daughters of how her struggle with pornography has affected her life as a mother. Click here to read full article.

‘This Is Really Scary’: Kids Struggle with Long Covid

This is something you might start seeing in your counseling offices—kids who had mild COVID cases but then experience physical and psychological symptoms several weeks afterward.  As school starts, some of these psychological symptoms might show up more.  Good article to read to be informed.

From the article: “Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, cited one study suggesting that between 11 percent and 15 percent of infected youths might ‘end up with this long-term consequence, which can be pretty devastating in terms of things like school performance.’” Click here to read full article.

TikTok Trend: Eating Frozen Honey and Risking Ill Effects

It seems like every generation of teens has to have some social media trend.  The new one is eating frozen honey.  Teens who have eaten large amounts have complained of stomach aches and diarrhea, and eating it over long periods can lead to weight gain and tooth decay. Click here to read full article.

 Parent-Based Sexual Health Promotion and Sexually Transmitted Infections Prevention for Youth

Even though young adults (age 15-24) account for only ¼ of sexually-active persons, they account for approximately 50% of new sexually-transmitted diseases, and this number has been increasing steadily for the last several years.  This has prompted one professional group to encourage parents to be more involved in sexual education and setting standards for dating.  Their specific suggestions to parents are included in the article and may be useful if you do family counseling. Click here to read full article.

Determined mom makes medical breakthrough for children with Down syndrome

If you deal with families where one or more of the children have Down syndrome, you may be interested in reading and saving this article. Click here to read full article.

Mood Episodes: Up and Down in a Matter of Minutes

This article discussed something I hadn’t read about before.  People with bipolar usually have mood changes (most commonly manic followed by depressive episodes) that change over several days.  This article talks about something all of us experience (shifts in emotional feelings that change during a matter of hours depending on our surroundings), but people with bipolar may experience these mood shifts more intensely than those of us who do not have bipolar disorder. Click here to read full article.

An Athletic Coach for the Mind? 

For those of you who are mental health counselors and also have a strong interest in sports, here is another specialization that might be of interest to you. Click here to read full article.

Adult ADHD Is Misunderstood: Realistic Solutions for Managing Life, Time & Emotions

A discussion of the ways adult ADHD makes it harder to navigate some of the challenges in adulthood, and some good, practical suggestions. Click here to read full article.

Parent Alert! The Dangers of OnlyFans Plus 4 Ways to Defend Your Kids

If you work with families they may have heard of OnlyFans but not know much about it.  This article gives information and includes several ways parents can defend their children and teens. Click here to read full article.

Can Teens with ADHD Tell When They Are on Medication?

I could not get this article to download a web address, so I will summarize it because I think it helps us answer two important questions: (1) Does medication significantly improve academic and social behavior in teens with ADHD? And (2) Why do so many teens stop taking medication?  The study was done while students were at a skills camp for teens with ADHD.

Students were randomly given either a low, medium, or high dose of Ritalin or a placebo, but didn’t know which they were given on any given day.  On days when they were given Ritalin they did significantly better on academic and social tasks, and their performance was dose-sensitive, i.e., higher doses of medication resulted in greater improvements in behavior.  However, they could not reliably tell when they were on medication versus placebo.  They attributed their better performance to effort rather than medication.

Thus we see that teens with ADHD definitely are benefited by stimulant medication, but since they cannot differentiate medication from placebo, they think that medication isn’t making a difference, and therefore may be more prone to stopping medication because they don’t think it is improving their performance. Click here to read full article.

CDC recommends pregnant women get COVID-19 vaccine

Many pregnant women were reluctant to get the COVID vaccine for fear of miscarriages.  At this point only 23% of pregnant women had received even one dose of the vaccine.  After study, the CDC has found that all three of the vaccines do not increase the likelihood of miscarriages and the risk of pregnant women getting severe COVID and having preterm births is increased if they do not get vaccinated. Click here to read full article.

The Ultimate ADHD Medication List

This is a list of ADHD medications, along with dispensing instructions written in clear English. Click here to read full article.

Obesity Is a Risk Factor for Brain-Structure Changes in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder, 2 Studies Show

These two research studies indicate that obesity causes the brains in schizophrenic and bipolar individuals to age more quickly. Thus if you are counseling such individuals, helping them to maintain normal weight and ask their psychiatrists to use medicines that do not cause additional weight gain may be warranted. Click here to read full article.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Henry Virkler