Thoughtful sayings
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity In every difficulty.
Winston Churchill
The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.
William Blake
"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."CALVIN COOLIDGE
Only love can heal the wounds of the past.
bell hooks
''Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.''
MUHAMMAD ALI
It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.
Cicero
Life is made of ever so many partings welded together.
Charles Dickens
Let us conduct ourselves so that all men wish to be our friends and all fear to be our enemies.
Alexander the Great
I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
George Washington
The Shadow of Schizophrenia
You may not be able to read this entire article if you don’t have a subscription to Christianity Today, but if you do, I think it will provide a strong glimpse into what it is like for a woman to grow from a young girl to a wife and mother with a mother who has suffered the extremes of many psychotic breaks over the last several decades.
Click here to read full article.
How To Go From Demand and "Duty Sex" to True Sexual IntimacyJuli Slattery is the founder of Authentic Intimacy and can talk with Christian women about sex in a way few others can. Here she addresses the issue of how to bring healing in a relationship where one spouse views sex as a demand and duty to one where it expresses true sexual intimacy with each other.
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Q&A: Great Guy. No Sexual Chemistry. Should I Marry Him Anyway?Here is a question that one woman wrote to Juli Slattery asking, and Juli’s answer (about 2½ minutes). The beauty of this is that it gives you exposure to not only Juli’s answer but also why she is such a popular speaker among Christian women on the topic of sex. The video also includes hypertext links to three other sites that have related information.
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What Was Your Tipping Point? Adult ADHD Diagnosis StoriesThis is a compilation of several stories of people who struggled with life for years, and then finally discovered that they had ADHD. Some of you may be counseling with people who are also struggling and have never had anyone help them recognize that they have undiagnosed ADHD.
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Exploding E-Cigarettes Cause Traumatic Injuries in Teens
We already know some of the serious medical issues that can be caused by vaping. Something less well known is this problem—really serious injuries caused by exploding e-cigarettes. If you’re working with a teen who is ambivalent about giving up vaping, learning about injuries that have happened to other teens might be the motivation they need.
Click here to read full article.
From InterestingFacts.com The person who invented the Stop sign never learned how to drive.
“Goodbye” is actually a contraction of the phrase “God be with you” and first appeared in the 1500s.
(Not from InterestingFacts)
The civil service of Great Britain is going fully “woke:” It now recognizes 100 genders!
How Bipolar Has Influenced My Cycle of Friendships
This person with bipolar disorder talks about how a new set of friendships has developed with each bipolar episode she has experienced. Interesting, and might be helpful if you have bipolar clients who have experienced something similar.
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We overlook a significant factor in mass shootings: fatherlessness
This writer, a male who also grew up in a fatherless family, talks thoughtfully about what young males can potentially learn from their fathers, and how the absence of a father can be an important factor in the constellation of things that lead to some of the tragic shootings we have seen.
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Prevalence and Correlates of Suicide and Nonsuicidal Self-injury in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Although suicide in children is still relatively rare the frequency is growing. This study was a meta-analysis of 58 previous studies and looked at the rate of suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide and non-suicidal self-injury. If you work with children you might be interested.
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7 Surprising Facts about the History of Bipolar Interesting article. The first recorded instance of bipolar disorder was a physician in the second century, and the first recorded treatment in ancient times was linked to lithium. See article for fuller details.
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Woman Who Was Told That Anorexia Battle Had Left Her Infertile Is Now a Proud Mom of 9
If you have a female client who has struggled with anorexia and been told that struggle has left her infertile, this article might let her know not to give up hope. Anorexia does leave some women permanently infertile, but our bodies sometimes miraculously recover.
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Helpful Tips for When You Do Not Have an Encouraging Support System
It is helpful when any of us, including those with bipolar disorder, have an encouraging support system, but not everyone does. Here are some practical suggestions for those who do not have one.
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Authorities Rescue 70 Missing Children, Including Sex-Trafficking Victims In Texas, Colorado, And Mexico
This news report exemplifies a challenge that parents face—we want to encourage healthy independence in our children, but there is also the threat of danger out there. Perhaps one good compromise is to teach children to be wise about where they go and to travel in groups with people they trust.
Click here to read full article.
Pro-life group to counter abortion activists' 'summer of rage' with 'summer of service'
Proabortion activists have called for a “summer of rage” and have torched and vandalized many churches and prolife centers. The President of Students for Life of America, Kristan Hawkins, has encouraged pro-life Christian students to instead respond with a “summer of service.”
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'There's Nothing to Repair': Emergency Docs on Injuries From Assault Weapons
I found this article to be really eye-opening on understanding the difference between wounds caused by normal guns versus those caused by assault weapons. Whatever your views on guns, I think understanding this distinction can help us all contribute to an intelligent discussion of this very important issue.
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Prioritizing Mental Health Over Money
What if you have a very lucrative career, you love your job, but you realize that job is hazardous to your mental health. That is the situation that faced this writer, and it might be the situation facing some of your clients. Here is what she did, and she suggests some good guidelines for those facing a similar dilemma.
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What Does ADHD Look Like in Women? Many Doctors Are Still Getting It Wrong
Women and girls often have the inattentive form of ADHD, and it is commonly misdiagnosed as anxiety or depression, anxiety and depression that is caused by their failures to be able to succeed in school or in their careers. Minor tranquilizers and SSRIs often do not help what is causing their anxiety and depression. Although this article focuses on medical doctors making the wrong diagnosis, I think this article has an important message for us as counselors as well.
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Reagan’s Would-Be Assassin, John Hinckley, Jr., Officially Granted Unconditional Release
Some of you may not have been alive when John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Reagan in order to impress Jodie Foster. He was not charged with murder because he was judged to be mentally ill. He spent 30 years in a psychiatric hospital and has gradually spent more and more time in supervised settings, and now is due for an unconditional release on June 15 because the judge said he no longer represents a danger to himself or to others. This does raise the encouraging message that some people may recover completely from serious mental illness and even be safe to live independently. (This is also probably the first time I have ever included an article from Rolling Stone magazine in my compilation.)
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Extremely Rare First-Ever Surviving Nonuplets Celebrate 1st Birthday ‘In Perfect Health’
This article isn’t really about counseling, but in case you ever felt tired after caring for one new-born, you may be interested in this family who is now caring for nine new-borns. An inspiring story, and apparently their country (Mali) has provided much help in caring for this unusual family.
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Cops, Clinicians, or Both? Collaborative Approaches to Responding to Behavioral Health Emergencies
This article comes from a psychiatry journal but I think it has some good ideas for us to consider. I know that cost is always an issue, but it seems that if we could pair a counselor and the police going out together to mental health emergencies its very possible that lives could be saved (and very possibly the humiliating situation of a person being put in the backseat of a squad car in handcuffs could be avoided. With the help of a counselor it might even be that family members could drive the person to a hospital with the police and counselor following.)
See what you think after reading the article.
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ADHD Increases Your Risk for These Physical Conditions
People with ADHD experience a variety of challenges. This study, which was published in the Lancet in 2021 (a very respected medical journal, tells us of even more challenges. The Swedes have exceptionally good registry system for measuring physical illnesses and often do studies over several years. This very large study found that if a person has ADHD, it increases the likelihood of 34 out of 35 medical conditions studied. See the article for more details.
Click here to read full article.
I hope you all stay safe this weekend,
Henry Virkler