Articles from the Week of September 22, 2023
Interesting Quotes
Perhaps the greatest test of love is the way we act in times of need.
Suleika Jaouad
In relationships, trust isn’t a promise to never hurt each other. It’s the risk that we will hurt each other and the confidence that, if we do, we will come together to heal.
Esther Perel
I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.
Abraham Lincoln
Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.
Alfred Adler
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Leo Buscaglia
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.
Robert Frost
Fascinating Facts (from InterestingFacts.com unless otherwise noted)
“Alpine swifts can remain in flight for 200 days. The small, swallow-like bird found in Europe and Africa can remain in flight for 200 days while migrating, during which time they eat insects, groom themselves, and even sleep while airborne. Alpine swifts native to Switzerland will fly all the way to Western Africa in order to stay warm during winter, a distance of thousands of miles. Weighing in at just one-fifth of a pound, Alpine swifts are tiny but mighty. They spend almost their entire lives airborne, although they do roost and breed on cliff faces and other high, rocky areas.”
Weather truths and myths
- 1. Lightning never strikes in the same place twice. A myth: The Empire State Building is struck about 25 times each year.
- 2. It’s not safe to use your cellphone in a thunderstorm. A myth: You shouldn’t use a landline or any other electrical device that is plugged in during a thunderstorm, but unplugged cellphones are safe (go inside to use them if possible).
- 3. Groundhogs can accurately predict the weather. Myth: Punxsutawney Phil and his descendants only predict the weather accurately about 40% of the time.
- 4. Car tires can protect us from lightning. Myth: If you’re in a car during a lightning storm and can’t get inside, don’t touch any metal. It is the metal shell of the car that can conduct up to 300 million volts of electricity to the ground. However, this is only true of hard-shelled cars. Convertibles are not safe places to be during a thunderstorm.
- 5. Doorways are the safest place to be during an earthquake. Partially true. While this was true of older, unreinforced buildings, in newer buildings the safest place to be during an earthquake is under a table or desk.
“About 200 feral cats roam Disneyland, where they help control rodents.”
Counseling Articles
Scientists discover how brain cells die in Alzheimer’s in breakthrough study
One question that researchers have been asking is what causes brain cells to die in Alzheimer’s Disease. This study brings us one step closer to answering that question. In the future it could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s, but scientists say that it will probably take at least a few years before there are clinical applications from this study.
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College Life: 3 Tools to Help Students with ADHD
It is well-known that when students with ADHD go to college, away from the structure provided by their parents, they often become casualties of college life. Here are three high-tech tools that may help, and at the end of the article are hypertext links to more resources that could be helpful. (I think you’ll be amused by Clocky, an alarm clock with legs. If the student doesn’t get up, it rolls off the nightstand and runs around the room and even hides, forcing the sleepy student to get out of bed in order to turn it off.)
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10 Questions to Reveal Parental Burnout
Children with special needs often have parents who feel exhausted, and parents of children with ADHD often experience those feelings. This short questionnaire can help such parents assess whether they are there yet.
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Struggling students? Let them fail — and teach them to overcome obstacles
There is a movement in some schools to give all students good grades, even if their work is mediocre or poor. This adult, who struggled with dyslexia all through school, reveals a better way. If you’re working with a parent who is trying to cover for each difficulty their child faces, might benefit from reading this article and then discussing it with you.
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There is life after death: Revived patients share out-of-body experiences in startling NYU report
Interesting report. For those of us who are believers, just one more piece of evidence that the best is yet to come.
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Artificial Mediocrity: The Hazard of AI in Education
Teachers in high school, college, and graduate school will be facing a new challenge in discerning what part of the assignment was completed by the student themselves and what part was done by a chatbot. Here is a thought-provoking article by a post-doctoral student. I think parents will have an important role to play in talking with their children about this issue.
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Doctors Rushed This TEENAGER Into Transgender Surgery – Here Are the Consequences!
Here is one more instance of physicians doing surgery that will permanently alter a child’s life without having the child or teen understand the long-term consequences of their decision so they can make a truly-informed decision.
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Risky Drinking Common in Cancer Survivors
This research study has been repeatedly reported for several weeks, so I assume that medical personnel must consider it quite important. Many people consumed alcohol before their cancer was diagnosed, but after it was diagnosed and successfully treated, this study found that 40% continued to drink amounts that are considered “hazardous drinking.” So if you work with a cancer survivor, this might be something to discuss.
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SMOKE ALARM
As I mentioned in last week’s compilation of articles, if you missed the webinar on Cannabis-Induced Psychosis I highly recommend you watch as soon as Valentino gets it posted. It is really excellent! This article, from Science magazine, presents more information from a neuroscientist on the impact of cannabis on the developing brain. The webinar and this article complement each other, each giving you information that the other one does not. The webinar is from the perspective of a therapist: the article is from the perspective of a neuroscientist.
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Chipping away at the ‘epidemic of loneliness,’ one new friendship at a time
The U.S. attorney general recently told us that loneliness is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or drinking 6 alcoholic beverages a day. There is growing awareness that loneliness increases the likelihood of physical and mental issues (strokes, heart disease, inflammation, dementia, and suicide). Now there is a small project, the Friendship Project, that is an attempt to help people overcome that loneliness. You may have clients who could benefit in starting an activity like this—it could be only one other person, not a full-fledged project. My hunch is that the initiator would benefit as much as the person they invited.
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5 Subtle Signs of a Bipolar Mood Shift
People with bipolar disorder can often spare themselves the pain and expense of full-blown mania or depression if they can recognize early signs and talk with their psychiatrist quickly. This article gives helpful signs to be aware of.
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US approval anticipated for MDMA therapy after recent PTSD trial
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is expected to be approved by the FDA for treatment of PTSD. The popular name for MDMA is ecstasy. See article for full details of why MDMA-assisted psychotherapy will probably be approved as an empirically-substantiated therapy for PTSD.
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What does the evidence say about CBD’s effectiveness and value?
CBD is being promoted as treatment for many things, including arthritis, addiction, reducing wrinkles, improving sleep, reducing anxiety, easing menstrual cramps, and preventing hair loss. However, there are few if any rigorous studies proving its effectiveness, so it’s probably best to encourage clients to use treatments with proven effectiveness until such studies have been done.
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Terrorists kill 23 pastors, shut down 200 churches in Nigerian state in 4 years
Please pray for the Christians in Nigeria!
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Important Insights from Liberal Scholars that Affirm Christian (and Biblical) Principles
Normally I don’t include spoken podcasts in this compilation of articles relevant for Christian counselors, but this Briefing segment from Albert Mohler is so insightful and so relevant for Christian counselors that I’m going to make an exception. In this approximately 30-minute talk he shows how even highly intelligent liberal speakers and researchers are concluding (without saying the words “Christian” or “biblical”) that living according to those principles makes for healthier lives. I encourage you to take 30 minutes to listen to this message.
Click here to listen to the podcast
Watching Girls Die Online
Anorexia nervosa has been a diagnosis in the DSM for many years, but the pattern of young women starving themselves to death for various reasons has been around for several centuries, as this writer explains. Anorexia did not start with the internet, but now with various social media programs ‘thinfluencers’ have millions of followers, and people who follow these influencers have seen several people who starved themselves in front of them. This writer, a recovered person who had anorexia herself, writes thoughtfully about some of the psychological processes that spur this movement.
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5 Things I Didn’t Know About Taking Mood Stabilizers
A woman who has been on mood stabilizers for several years for her bipolar disorder talks about side effects that she has experienced, an article that may be helpful to some people who are just starting on mood stabilizers for the first time.
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Dating With Bipolar Disorder: What You Need to Know
This article has a lot of good suggestions for people with bipolar disorder about how and when to bring up this issue when dating.
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Why ADD Makes You Feel. So. Much.
One of the most significant challenges of ADHD is dealing with emotions. This short article gives some suggestions.
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Lessons From the Longest Study on Happiness
The Harvard study on happiness has studied 2000 people over 85 years. This one-page summary is something we can all use in counseling.
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Vagina Dialogue: MDs Push to Promote Female Sexual Wellness and Pleasure
Even though 40% of premenopausal women experience sexual dysfunction, there has been a shameful neglect of research, treatment options and training for medical students in this area. A few physicians are starting to raise awareness of this unfair deficiency.
Click here to read the full article
SFACC needs a new board member to serve as treasurer
These first two paragraphs describe the responsibilities and benefits of serving on the board, and the third paragraph describes the specific responsibilities of the treasurer. Please read and pray about serving in this position. If you would like to apply, send an email to our President, Leah Carmo, (LeahCarmo@aol.com) with your phone number and she will discuss this with you further.
Description of SFACC Board member responsibilities and benefits
1. The goals of SFACC are to provide a vehicle for pastors to be able to have a list of qualified (licensed) Christian counselors to whom they could refer parishioners.
2. A second goal is for SFACC to provide a website where Christians who are looking for licensed counselors who view the Christian faith as an important mental health resource and do not view religious faith as the product of an unhealthy personality.
3. Board members provide input so that our SFACC website accomplishes these goals to the best degree possible. Board members provide input and we have a Media Manager who then implements those suggestions.
4. Board members are asked to attend a 1½ hour zoom call to evaluate the past and plan for the future usually once every two months.
5. Board members help identify possible speakers for our workshops and webinars who can help SFACC members learn helpful clinical skills and stay current on their CEU requirements.
6. Board members can volunteer to be involved in other tasks that become available.
Benefits of Board membership
1. Free attendance at all SFACC workshops and webinars.
2. If licensed, free clinical membership in SFACC and advertising for your practice on the SFACC website
3. Knowing that they are contributing to helping Christian counselors in South Florida provide the best counseling services of which they are capable.
Duties of the SFACC Treasurer
1. Produce an income and expense report on a monthly basis. This is done on a Google Sheets spreadsheet program including Microsoft Excel.
• Income sources include: membership and seminar fees. These fees are automatically processed through our membership management and payment processing program, Wild Apricot.
• Monthly expenses include: Zoom, Wild Apricot fees and administrator salary.
• Annual subscriptions include: Wild Apricot, 1 &1 domain fee (website name)
2. Keep SFACC debit card for any miscellaneous purchases (rarely used)
3. Submit two tax forms: 1096 and 1099-NEC (both are short forms for non-employee
compensation filing.) SFACC president files the Florida Sunbiz renewal and 1099N filing
with the IRS.
End of Summary for SFACC treasurer
Referral Guidelines for Pastors
I sent out this notice a couple weeks ago, but in case you missed it, I’ll send it out one more time.
Many pastors say that they were not given adequate training in Bible college or seminary about how to comfortably refer parishioners to professional counselors. I have written an article giving counseling referral suggestions to pastors and acquainting them with the Baker Act, the Marchman Act, the new 988 hotline, how mental health problems can sometimes masquerade as spiritual problems, eating disorders treatment, pornography addiction treatment, etc. It has its own tab at the SFACC website. Would you please read this article and if you believe that it would be helpful to your pastors, associate pastors and any others in your church who sometimes need to make counseling referrals, tell them about this free resource? Thank you!
Note: Mary and I will be out of town this next week, so there will probably not be a compilation of news articles next week.
Have a wonderful week!
Henry Virkler