Articles from the Week of March 31, 2023
Interesting Quotes
''As a cure for worrying, work is better than whisky.''
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
No one has ever become poor by giving.
Anne Frank
Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.
Roy T. Bennett
The greatest reward of righteousness is peace of mind.
Epicurus
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
Abraham Lincoln
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
Albert Einstein
Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.
Maya Angelou
''There’s no shame in failing. The only shame is not giving things your best shot.''
ROBIN WILLIAMS
''When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.''
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
Fascinating Facts
A Funny But True Story
Police in Jakarta had found more than 3 tons of potent marijuana, along with ecstasy and crystal meth. They didn’t want these drugs to fall into the wrong hands, so they decided to burn the drugs in a massive bonfire. Apparently many in the town became “high” through inhaling the fumes before the police realized that this wasn’t the wisest way of getting rid of the drugs.
Counseling Articles
Why the Year After Her Cancer Diagnosis Was the Best Year of Nanci’s Life
This is Randy Alcorn’s recounting of why he believes the year after her cancer diagnosis was the best year of Nanci’s life. We will all face the end of our earthly life someday. I think Nanci’s story can be an excellent model for all of us.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Hyperfocus
Hyperfocus can be a “superpower” but it can also be a tremendous frustration for those around an individual with ADHD. Here is a good discussion of the positives and negatives of hyperfocus, and some suggestions about how to use it helpfully.
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Psychedelics may improve mental health by getting inside nerve cells
Some new research may give us insights into why medically-controlled psychedelics may improve mental health. Although this is based on research with rodents, it may help researcherseventually develop treatments for humans. Apparently some psychedelic may get inside brain cells in the cortex and instruct new neurons to grow. Although this research is still several steps away from clinical applications in humans, it may eventually lead to treatments for things like depression.
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Wonders of the Womb
Pregnancy, especially one’s first pregnancy, can be wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Here is a series of five short videos (each about five minutes long), from Focus on the Family, to help first-time mothers experience the joys of pregnancy and prepare for some of the changes they may experience.
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Lung Cancer Risks: Myths and Facts
I’m told that quitting smoking is very difficult. Here are ten quick myths and facts from WebMD about what causes lung cancer that may help a client who needs some information to help motivate them to quit.
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Big Pharma Is Paying TikTok Influencers to Hook Teens on New Drugs.
As if we needed another reason to keep our children off TikTok, this study found that pharmaceutical companies are paying TikTok influencers to recommend new drugs to teens.
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Trans athletes should compete — but not against biological women
This editorial, by Kirsten Fleming, makes a point that would seem to be common sense—that girls and young women should not have to put their health and safety at risk, and should not lose sports competitions unfairly, by having to compete against males who have gone through pubertyas males and now decided to identify as females in order to be eligible to compete in women’s competitions.
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Prenatal and Early Life Risk Factors of ADHD: What Research Says — and What Parents Can Do
This is a comprehensive and well-researched compilation of prenatal and early life factors that influence the likelihood of a child developing ADHD, and what parents can do to reduce those risk factors. If you work with parents who have children with ADHD, or you work with couples who may have children in the future, this is a worthwhile article to keep on file.
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11 Great Reasons To Stay In California
In case you’re having a really tough day or week and need something to help you feel better, here is a tongue-in-cheek article listing 11 reasons to stay in California. Guaranteed that after reading this article from the Babylon Bee, whatever you’re going through in Florida won’t seem so bad.
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10 “Excuses” We Tell Ourselves about Bipolar Medication
The best way to find balance if someone has bipolar disorder is a combination of the right medication at the right dosage level, counseling, and lifestyle, but many people with bipolar disorder find excuses about why they don’t want to take medication. Here are ten of the most common excuses, and some good responses to each one.
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Meet the 'glass-half-full girl' whose brain rewired after losing a hemisphere
I believe I ran a story about Mora a few years ago. Here is an update and it’s fascinating. In the third trimester of her mother’s pregnancy, the left side of Mora’s brain had a massive stroke, which was undiagnosed at the time. At birth she appeared normal, but within a few months she was having hundreds of epileptic seizures each day. The doctors decided that the best option was to remove the left half of her brain, but they weren’t sure what would happen as a result.
Here is a description of her life since (she is now 15). It has taught us much about neuroplasticityin the brain and will continue to do so as she continues to mature.
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Study Confirms Physical Exercise Should Be First Choice for Mental Health Treatment
This is a large meta analysis of the best studies on helping people combat anxiety, depression and psychological distress. It was compiled by several Australian researchers. Usually we are told to use medication and counseling first, and then exercise as a complementary treatment. What these researchers found, combining the results of many studies, is to encourage clients to start with exercise first, and then add counseling and pharmaceuticals later if needed. They also found that short periods of High Intensity exercise were most effective, but for people for whom high intensity exercise was not wise, that normal exercise was second best. So perhaps when people come to us for counseling, encouraging them to start exercising should be higher on our priority list. And for those who don’t have the money to start counseling immediately, encouraging them to exercise while they secure the necessary finances could be very helpful. In case you doubt my summary, please read this summary of their findings yourself.
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40 State Legislatures Have Passed or Introduced Legislation to Restrict Transgender Child Abuse
It seems that legislators are less convinced that puberty suppression, cross-sex hormones, and sex change surgery is wise than are many of the professional groups, e.g., the AMA, the APA’s, etc. Here’s an article detailing what is happening nation-wide.
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33 Ways to Get Things Done—Consistently
People with ADHD often have problems with organization, and this list would probably be very helpful to them, even if they only adopted 5 or 6 items from the list. I think this would be helpful to almost everyone, because probably all of us are disorganized in one or more areas of our lives.
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How to Find Love When You Have ADHD
People with ADHD often make disastrous decisions about romance. Here is the best advice I’ve ever read to help people (not just those with ADHD) make good decisions about finding a life partner. It’s written by an M.D. with ADHD who has been a doctor specializing in treating those with ADHD for the last 30 years.
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Study: ‘Transgender’ Youth at Highest Risk for Violent Radicalization
Interesting study conducted in 2022 of Canada’s college population. It found that “transgender and gender diverse students reported higher support for VR [violent radicalization] compared to students who identified as women.” Violent radicalization in this study refers to “a process whereby an individual or a group increases support for violence as a legitimate means to reach a specific (e.g., political, social, and religious) goal.”
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Potential Transgender ‘Day Of Vengeance’ Follows Nashville Shooting
Transgender persons here in the U.S. are calling for a “Day of Vengeance” which is scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., between March 31 and April 2. Recruiters are saying that their specific goal is to “[s]top trans genocide” specifically by raising money for firearms.
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Children as Young as Five Years Old Have Become So Used to Watching Two UnrelatedVideos Simultaneously that they Are No Longer Satisfied Watching One Thing at a Time
I cannot give you a web address to read this article because it comes from a British newspaper that requires a subscription. However, I think it bodes ill for childrens’ future attention spans when they develop, at such an early age, the habit of watching two unrelated sources at the same time and are uncomfortable focusing on one thing at a time.
Melatonin a New Way to Reduce Self-Harm?
Melatonin is produced naturally in our bodies in the evening and helps people fall asleep. As people get older their bodies produce less melatonin, so older people often take melatonin just before going to bed to help them sleep. Teens with psychological problems are more likely than other teens to have difficulty sleeping, and frustration at not being able to sleep sometimes leads to self-harm. So melatonin (which seems to be quite safe) is reportedly being tried as a way of reducing self-harm.
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Children Groomed for Trans Lifestyle by Gender Ideology in Schools: Experts
Although this article is talking about schools in Maryland where grooming is taking place, it is also happening in schools in Florida, as this article documents.
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Have a wonderful week or weekend!
Henry Virkler
