Articles from the Week of October 27, 2023
Interesting Quotes
"It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default."
J.K. ROWLING
There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.
Jane Austen
Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.
C.S. Lewis
"Cherish each hour of this day for it can never return."
OG MANDINO
I did not always think he was right nor did he always think I was right, but we were each the person the other trusted.
Joan Didion
“The two most important days in your life are the day you’re born and the day you find out why."
Mark Twain
Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.
Pericles
I realized that I don't have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect, and beautiful journey of my life.
Kerry Washington
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
Les Brown
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
Mary Anne Radmacher
I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.
Marie Curie
Fascinating Facts (from InterestingFacts.com unless otherwise noted)
What is the largest animal on Earth?
“The largest animal on Earth is the Blue Whale. The blue whale can reach a weight of about 396,000 pounds (198 tons) and a length of 98 feet. In fact, the blue whale is so large that just its tongue can weigh as much as a single elephant and their heart can weigh as much as an average-sized car. Despite their enormous size, blue whales are not predators and have a diet mostly in plankton.”
[The following quoted material from NeedtoKnowFacts.com]
“Bananas are technically berries.”
“Rats giggle when tickled.”
“Queen Elizabeth had a long-time body double.”
“Beer makes humans more attractive to mosquitos.”
“Some Monarch Butterflies Travel Over 3,000 Miles on Their Annual Migration.”
” The Phrase ‘Don’t Mess with Texas’ Was Created to Discourage Road Littering.”
“Pink Was Once Considered a Color for Baby Boys, While Blue Was for Baby Girls.”
Counseling Articles
Why Legal Pot Makes This Physician Sick
If someone you know still thinks legalization of recreational pot is a good idea, have them read this article by a female physician who shares all the medical problems that regular use of cannabis can bring.
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6 Common Depression Traps to Avoid
If you have a client who’s battling depression, this may be a helpful handout to give them. It includes 6 common depression traps to avoid and some suggestions for how to avoid them. These are problems and suggestions you already know, but they are laid out here in one simple article, and that way you can use your session time discussing how to implement them.
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Ways to Stop a Panic Attack
Another helpful handout from WebMD. If you have a client who has panic attacks you probably learned some methods to use with clients in your training. If you would like to have a handout to give to clients to memorize and use the next time they have a panic attack, this one is something you could keep on your computer and use or modify to use with clients.
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Best Ways To Prevent Cognitive Decline
This article, from For Seniors magazine, is a good summary of the research-based recommendations for maintaining good cognitive health as we age.
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5 Life Skills Every Young Adult with ADHD Should (Eventually) Master
There are lots of stories of kids with ADHD who go to college and bomb out because they never mastered the skills necessary to live adult life without their parents. If you work with teens with ADHD or with their parents it would be good to know that they’ve learned these skills before they leave home. Although kids without ADHD might also be helped to transition to independent adult life if they don’t know these skills. I think one thing this article is missing is financial planning. Consider adding this to the list.
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The Truth about Men, Women, and Sex
This is a reprint from an article first printed in 2017. It is by Mark Regnerus, a highly respected Christian sociologist. But it contains no Scriptural references, and so his thinking could be used equally comfortably with both Christian and non-Christian clients. Some of the concepts he discusses could, I think, be used quite effectively in counseling (e.g., “fly” and “no fly” zones, the effect of porn on eroding the perception of what is a “no fly zone, etc.).
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Chasing Happiness While Living with Bipolar Disorder
Clients with bipolar disorder have a challenge that most of us do not experience—learning to distinguish between the exuberance that comes with mania versus true happiness. I think that she makes some good suggestions, but I think she leaves out one important factor—I think we experience long-term happiness when we’re engaged in one or more activities that make the world a better place. See what you think.
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Top 5 Medical Conditions Co-Occurring with Bipolar
This is probably not an article you want to share with your bipolar clients, but if you work with bipolar clients it might be important for you to read this. Sometimes when we’re born with a congenital illness it means we’re more likely than others for another illness to also occur. This may seem unfair, but having professionals who can watch for these other illnesses can sometimes save our lives.
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Are Canada’s Skyrocketing Assisted Suicide Death Rates a Harbinger for America?
Canada originally had an assisted suicide law that allowed terminally ill people to request medication that would enable them to end their lives. Then they broadened that law to allow anyone to request such medication. This article includes a discussion of reasons to oppose such laws coming to the U.S.
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Live with your parents? Here's how to create a harmonious household
With the high cost of housing and interests, more young adults are being forced to move back and live with their parents. This article suggests a few guidelines that may be helpful. While it’s not as in-depth as one might wish, it does give a few suggestions that might help you if you have to have this conversation with a client, either the young adult or parents.
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Accepting a Valuable Gift from a Patient: It's Tempting, but Is It Right?
If you counsel for any length of time, you probably will be offered a gift of some kind from a grateful client. Should you accept it? Here is a case of a grateful client offering a doctor who helped a client to go from being suicidal to feeling like a productive artist again. However, since the gift was potentially worth a million dollars, the ethical recommendation given is probably wise. But I encourage you to think about how you would respond if a grateful client gave you a smaller gift as a way of saying “thank you.” Thinking about this beforehand will hopefully prepare you to respond wisely when it does occur.
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9 words that helped this cancer patient: ‘You look like you could use a mom hug’
I know that we need to be careful about physical touch in our relationships with clients, but I think this story reminds us that there may be times when a hug may be a very health-giving action.
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Why Are We (Still) Failing Students with ADHD?
The author of this article, a clinician and teacher and consultant to schools discusses the fact that even though we know much more about ADHD and learning disabilities, this is often not trickling down to teachers and classrooms.
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When a Child and a Chimp Were Raised Together
This is not a counseling article but may be of interest to some of you. Back in the 1930s, when materialism was much in vogue, two psychologists decided to raise their child and a chimp exactly the same way and see what would happen. The parents discontinued the study early in the second year and returned the chimp to a primate center here in Florida. I think you’ll find the discussion and the reasons they probably discontinued the experiment fascinating.
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Impaired implicit learning in adults with anorexia nervosa
When people have anorexia nervosa often standard therapeutic methods do not have the same results as they might have when working with clients who do not have anorexia nervosa. This research looked at whether there were differences in implicit learning for those who had anorexia nervosa and controls and found there were substantial differences. For those of you who work with clients with eating disorders this finding would probably be of interest.
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ACLU SUES FOR RIGHT TO SPREAD HIV WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE
Tennessee has a law that those who know they have HIV and who knowingly infect others without disclosing their HIV status and obtaining consent will face punishment. The ACLU is arguing that prostitutes who have HIV are a marginalized group and to punish them is constitutionally unfair.
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Caution Urged for Obesity Drugs and Birth Control Pills
A growing number of people who haven’t been able to lose weight in other ways have turned to Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro. One finding that is just coming out now is that these drugs can interfere with the effectiveness of birth control pills resulting in unintended pregnancies. If you have a female client who is considering using one of these drugs, you may want to warn her of this finding.
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Stress or Bipolar Anxiety? How to Tell the Difference
Clients with bipolar disorder will often have anxiety when they are either depressed or manic. How can they tell whether this anxiety is due to their bipolar disorder or is a separate issue? Julie Fast, a well-respected bipolar blogger gives a simple way to tell the difference. If you work with bipolar clients I encourage you to save this article for future reference.
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Young woman sues American Academy of Pediatrics over body disfiguring trans procedures
Now that the medical societies of several other countries have labelled the “gender-affirmative care” model still being promoted widely in the U.S. as an experimental treatment that needs to be studied further before being promoted widely to teens here in the U.S., it will be interesting if this legal case will be one of the first in a groundswell of cases that will soon make it impossible for doctors and counselors to obtain liability insurance if they continue to promote gender-affirmative care to teens.
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10 Reasons Why An Understanding of Hermeneutics is Important for Christian Counselors
Hermeneutics is the study of how to correctly interpret God’s Word (or any other written document). Here’s a updated handout of a seminar I gave a couple years ago. It includes 10 reasons why I believe an understanding of hermeneutics is important for Christian counselors. It also includes several of the most common verses that Christians and Christian counselors misinterpret (and correct interpretations of those verses). If you are interested in subscribing to my substack website in order to receive a notice when new articles are added, (I usually add one or two revised handouts each week) you can click the subscribe button. The substack subscription is free.
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In PTSD, Evidence That a Single Ketamine Infusion May Enhance Extinction of Recalled Traumatic Memories
Helping clients with moderate to severe PTSD is a major challenge in psychotherapy. Exposure therapy can be used and works for some clients, but sometimes the results fade over time. This article discusses the use of ketamine, either combined with exposure therapy or by itself, to achieve extinction of the traumatic memories.
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Have a wonderful week or weekend!
Henry Virkler
