Articles from the Week of February 16, 2024
Interesting Quotes
Two quotes from C. S. Lewis:
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.
Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, “sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.”
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“What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.”
ANNE FRANK
“There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained.”
WINSTON CHURCHILL
"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."
JOHN RUSKIN
Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, but it empties it of its strength.
George Seaton Bowes
Fascinating Facts
Canned food was invented before can openers. It was invented to keep food available for active soldiers in France in the late 1700s. Soldiers used bayonets to open those cans. (Source: HistoryFacts.com)
The Romans had a version of fast-food restaurants.
“Recent excavations of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii reveal that some aspects of society haven’t changed much during the last 2,000 years, including our eating habits. The Romans also had what were essentially fast-food restaurants. Known as thermopolia (or singularly as a thermopolium), these establishments sold a variety of ready-to-eat hot food. They were essential to daily life in ancient Rome, because not all citizens had kitchens. In the region around Pompeii, only around 40% of low-income households and 66% of middle-class households had a kitchen at home. Those who didn’t typically lived in insulae (apartment buildings) and relied on thermopolia for many of their meals.
“Thermopolia were low-cost food joints, offering a selection of meats (such as chicken, pork, duck, goat, and snails), cheeses, fish, bread, and legumes, washed down with calida (a type of mulled wine) — there were no burgers or fries here. The food was held in dolia (large terracotta pots) on buffet-style counters. The more upscale restaurants had frescoes adorning the walls, depicting food that was eaten there (such as ducks or chickens) or deities (such as Mercury, the god of commerce, and Bacchus, the god of wine). Thermopolia weren’t without controversy, however. Roman Emperor Claudius once tried to have them shut down because of their poor reputation. Criminals, thieves, and other dishonorable members of society often gathered and drank wine at thermopolia, earning the establishments a bad rap.” (Source: HistoryFacts.com)
A Great Dane named Juliana was awarded a medal during WWII.
In 1941, during the German bombing known as the Blitz, when a bomb fell through the roof of the house where Juliana lived with her owner, she made her way over to the incendiary device and extinguished its flame by urinating on it (Source: HistoryFacts.com).
If you have trouble saying “no” to inconvenient requests you might want to consider purchasing this AI chatbot. The creators of Goody-2, the "most responsible" chatbot, programmed it to refuse every request. (Source: NPR).
Counseling Articles
Research Shows Gender-Reassignment Treatments Have No Mental Health Benefits, National Pediatricians Group Says
There is more than one national group representing pediatricians. The American College of Pediatricians last week announced the results of 60 studies on gender-affirming treatment, and concluded that “there is no long-term evidence that mental health concerns are decreased or alleviated after ‘gender-affirming therapy,’”
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School district sued for lying in its attempt to transition pre-teen girl
Last week I included an article where a lawyer predicted that doctors may soon face an onslaught of lawsuits by teens and young adults who are finding that gender transition did not solve all their problems as they had been promised. It may turn out that teachers who attempt to indoctrinate students in transgender ideology as well as doctors will who face lawsuits.
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The Problem with Polyamory: A Social Scientific View
Polyamory has been getting a lot of positive attention in the press recently and apparently a large percentage of young people think that open marriages are an ethically and psychologically healthy option to consider. This article delves into the various alternatives to traditional marriage that have existed over the centuries and concludes that this fascination with polyamory will be short lived, giving the reasons why this is likely to be so.
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Married People Are Living Their Best Lives
Although an increasing percentage of young people are choosing to stay single, the research says that the group of people who say they are “thriving” are those who are married, and it seems to be true in most societies throughout human history. This article contains a significant amount of data that backs up those assertions. (Not in this article, but from other research: some people are single, but not because of their own choice. This other research has found that it is better to be single than to be in an unhappy marriage.)
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Dopamine Fasting: Some MDs Are Prescribing It. Should You?
Although this article was in a psychiatric journal I believe counselors could equally benefit from reading it and considering it for some of their clients. It explains the theory behind dopamine fasting, some of the alleged benefits, and also some of the criticisms of it. Well-balanced article.
Dopamine fasting is the theory that some habits such as viewing pornography, taking psychoactive drugs or drinking alcohol cause the brain to produce dopamine and give people pleasure, and so they continue engaging in those activities. Eventually the brain accommodates and it takes more dopamine to produce the same pleasurable effects, increasing the persons’ use of those habits. Dopamine fasting involves encouraging the person or client to abstain totally from those unhealthy habits for a period of time, generally a month. It is said that usually the first two weeks of abstinence is quite challenging, but then becomes easier the longer the person abstains.
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Cannabis for Psychiatric Disorders? 'Not Today,' Experts Say
More people are using cannabis for various psychiatric and psychological disorders. Here was an interview with two psychiatrists who have specialized information in this area. The interview can be listened to or the transcript read. If you have a client who believes they should take cannabis for something they’re struggling with, this might be a useful article for them and you to read or listen to.
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Even With Alzheimer's Pathology, Healthy Lifestyles May Preserve Cognition
This kind of result has been found in several studies, including the present one. Even when amyloid tangles and other symptoms associated with dementia are found in autopsies, those living healthier lifestyles were more likely to still be functioning well cognitively. So this provides further evidence that it’s wise to live healthily throughout our lifespan, including in old age.
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Near-Death Experiences During CPR: An Impetus for Better Care
These articles suggest a couple things—one is that it may be helpful to provide CPR longer than is often done, because sometimes people can be revived if CPR is extended. A second major finding is that about half of people have no recollections of the time when they were receiving CPR, but the other half do have some hazy recollections and would like to talk about them, but most medical doctors don’t focus on letting them share those recollections, so that is an area where we as counselors can give them an opportunity to talk about their experience.
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Concerns Rise as Magic Mushroom Clinics Multiply
Last week I included an article discussing how an increasing number of women in high-stress jobs are self-administering microdoses of “magic mushrooms” on a daily basis. This article talks about some growing concerns about the healthiness of using magic mushrooms.
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21 Shocking, Dark, And Wild DNA Test Stories from Things Like 23andMe
Not a counseling article, but some truly shocking things people have found out when they had genetic tests done as part of 23andMe. If you have clients who are considering doing this, be prepared to do some supportive counseling if they uncover things they never knew!
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Family Involvement in Patient Care One Key to Success
This article is written for psychiatrists, but I think the insights apply equally to counselors. It argues for the importance of including family members in at least some of the counseling sessions and gives suggestions about how to structure such meetings.
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ADHD, Women, and the Danger of Emotional Withdrawal
If you have a client with ADHD, this could be a helpful article to share with them. Many children with ADHD develop the habit of emotional withdrawal for understandable reasons. Because of the criticism and rejection they often experience from peers, they emotionally withdraw as protective mechanism. By adulthood this may have become such a habit that they’re not even aware they’re doing it, but it can obviously impact friendships and marital relationships. This is a good article that explains that process and how to make steps to change it.
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Swipe Left on Chatbots: 5 Heartfelt Lessons on Genuine Love
As if parents didn’t have enough to worry about, AI is now being used to animate chatbots that lure children into pornography. Here is an article that explains how this is being done.
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The teen brain is especially susceptible to the harms of THC
If you work with teens or with parents this article is relevant. Many parents, who used marijuana as they were growing up, feel relieved to learn that their teens are using marijuana rather than more potent drugs. What this author points out is that the marijuana parents used was much less potent than present-day marijuana, and that studies since that time have demonstrated that the teen brain is especially susceptible to the harms that this stronger dose of THC can cause.
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Self-control is distinct from willpower
We know that people who are able to exert a reasonable amount of self-control over their impulses feel much better about themselves than those who do not. This article has a useful discussion about self-control and willpower and probably will give you some helpful ideas about how to help your clients develop greater abilities in this area.
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Politics aside, most Americans would protect kids from trans surgeries
Although many people think that resistance to transgender treatments is primarily from conservatives or from one political party, this research study found that 67% of parents oppose the use of cross-gender hormones and gender surgeries and is fairly consistent across all political affiliations.
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I hope you have a wonderful weekend or week!
Henry Virkler
