Articles from the Week of May 3, 2024
Explanation: Although I scan the Internet primarily for counseling articles, in the process I run across quotes and interesting facts that I sometimes include in these first two sections. If you’re just interested in the counseling articles, you can skip these first two sections and go directly to the section called Counseling Articles. HV
Interesting Quotes
If you want to live in peace, you must not tell everything that you know, nor judge everything that you see.
Mexican proverb
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.
C.S. Lewis
How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!
Proverbs 16:16
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
James 3:13
A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.
Helen Keller
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas Edison
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
Christopher Reeve
Fascinating Facts
Pants were considered uncivilized in ancient Greece and Rome. “Tunics and cloaks, such as togas and chitons, were the norm.” (Source: HistoryFacts.com)
Lightning can heat the air to 50,000° F — five times hotter than the surface of the sun.
“Lightning itself doesn’t have a temperature because it’s just the movement of electrical charges in the atmosphere. (You can think of it as one big spark of electricity that happens when positive and negative charges build up within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.) But that doesn’t stop lightning from heating up whatever it passes through — in this case, air. Air is a poor conductor of electricity, so it heats up tremendously when lightning strikes.” (Source: InterestingFacts.com)
Many people believe that the majority of oxygen comes from trees. This is not true. About 80% of the world’s oxygen comes from plankton. (Source: InterestingFacts.com)
The Most Boring Day in History: A computer program scoured history for the date on which little of significance occurred. The day the computer came up with was April 11, 1954. (Source: InterestingFacts.com)
Counseling Articles
Child’s secret Snapchat recordings help convict mother’s boyfriend of yearslong sex abuse
This creative 12-year-old girl developed a way to get data on her mother’s boyfriend, data that sent the Palm Beach County man to prison for the rest of his life. If you know of a young person who is being sexually abused, but fears that they will not be believed, there might be something her for him or her to try.
Click here to read the full article
Only 2% of TikTok diet and nutrition trends are accurate
Not a counseling article, but you probably have some clients who are at least influenced by what they read on TikTok. It may be helpful to remember the tidbit that, according to two groups that have carefully studied it, only 2% of the diet and nutrition trends recommended there are accurate.
Click here to read the full article
Take the Stairs and Boost Longevity Up to 40 Percent
Not a counseling article, but something practical most of us could do. Those who regularly take the stairs rather than the elevator are likely to increase their longevity significantly.
Click here to read the full article
Unhappy Marriage Harms Men More Than Smoking
A study from Israel found that staying in an unhappy marriage increases the likelihood of early death more than smoking. This is from an email by my former cardiologist whom I have a great deal of trust and respect for. However, I think the better antidote is counseling rather than divorce.
Click here to read the full article
Preparing Your Teen (with ADHD) for Life After High School
If you have parents of a child with ADHD, this article has some good information about how to prepare them for the transition from high school to college. While this is good information for the child planning to go to college, it doesn’t include anything for the teen who is planning on going into a career that doesn’t include college.
Click here to read the full article
The Best Podcasts on Bipolar Disorder and Mental Health
Some people enjoy learning from podcasts. Here are some podcasts that focus on bipolar disorder and other mental health issues that might be of interest to some of your clients.
Click here to read the full article
Bright Light Boosts Cognitive Function, Focus
Some recent research has suggested that bright light can increase cognitive function and focus. It will take a while for the research to parse out clinical applications and show whether the same situation will work for all age groups. Stay tuned.
Click here to read the full article
Study: Religious School Kids Are More Tolerant and Informed Than Public Schoolers
There is the belief by some that religious education causes children to become intolerant and certain they are right and those who disagree with them are wrong. But this study, which compiled the results from 57 international studies, found that “religious schools are far more effective at teaching children to become engaged citizens than secular public schools — resulting in students who model political tolerance, knowledge, and skills better than their publicly educated peers.” Important information in cultures attempt to “cancel” anyone who believes differently than themselves.
Click here to read the full article
Feds Impose Trans Agenda on Employers for Pronouns, Bathrooms
Last week the Department of Education attempted to impose transgender ideology on schools and colleges. Now the EEOC is attempting to do the same thing on all employers.
Click here to read the full article
Gov. DeSantis Says Florida Will Not Comply with New Title IX Rules
The controversial changes to Title IX which were released last week are being criticized by Governor DeSantis. Within a few days at least fourteen other states have joined that movement.
Click here to read the full article
Research Shows Coffee Has 3 Health Benefits That Will Make You Want to Drink More
Too much coffee can definitely cause problems, but research has shown that moderate consumption of coffee has a number of health benefits.
Click here to read the full article
The Journey to Independence: A Parent’s Guide to Delayed Adulthood with ADHD
I mentioned this free webinar in a previous mailing, but I just found out that people who register for it can watch it on-demand, so they don’t have to watch it when it airs. If you counsel parents who might be interested, please tell them about this.
Click here to read the full article
Many AI-Guided Psychosis Prediction Tools Not Much Better Than Chance
For many years we’ve been hoping for some tool to help predict which antidepressants or antipsychotics will work best for a given patient. It was hoped that AI could help with such predictions. At present the studies on AI indicate that it’s not much better than chance. Hopefully when more data is given to AI its ability to make such predictions will improve.
Click here to read the full article
‘AI death calculator’ creators issue urgent warning about frighteningly accurate tool
Artificial intelligence is being used in an expanding number of ways. One new product is Life2vec, developed by U.S. and Danish scientists, allegedly predicts age of death 78% of the time accurately. The program is not available to the general public yet. The creators are warning that copycat versions of Life2vec are being developed which steal people’s information and can insert malware on their computers. So in case you have clients ask about whether to use one of these copycat AI versions, it may be a fruitful conversation for therapy, and also wise to caution that these copycat versions can be dangerous to your computer’s health.
Click here to read the full article
Bipolar Anger Unveiled: Understanding the Rage Within
We all experience flashes of anger from time to time, but this is different in people with Bipolar 1 or 2, who experience long-term irritability or rage that may last for days during the depressed or manic phases. If you have a client with bipolar (or the spouse of a client with bipolar) you may want to explore this and if they do, help them develop a plan for what to do in these times to protect their children and spouse.
Click here to read the full article
What’s Behind the Rising Rates of Women Being Diagnosed With ADHD?
The rate of adult women with ADHD is significantly increasing. It is probable that rates are not increasing significantly but, because ADHD in women expresses itself differently than in men, the diagnosis was not given to them when they were children. Worthwhile article for all clinicians to read.
Click here to read the full article
Two Souls, One Journey: The Heartwarming Tale of Triumph for The Conjoined Twins
Although not a counseling article, the heartwarming story of Abigail and Brittany Hensel, conjoined twins, is probably of interest to many in the counseling field. This account is by far the most complete one I have read and is a remarkable story of resilience and cooperation between two unique individuals.
Click here to read the full article
The Truth About Porn’s Impact on Childhood Mental Health
This article talks about the impact porn can have on a child, and the different effects it has depending on the age of the child. It also gives some practical suggestions about what to do if a parent discovers their child has been exposed to pornography and doesn’t know what to do with the feelings that have been raised as a result.
Click here to read the full article
Does 'Brain Training' Really Improve Cognition and Forestall Cognitive Decline?
An interesting compilation of the research on “brain training.” One of the biggest fears of older people is the fear of developing dementia. What we do know is that the brain can continue to develop new synapses and synaptic connections throughout life (neuroplasticity) and physical exercise facilitates this process. Also, anything that increases “cognitive reserve” is helpful in slowing or combating the onset of dementia. It appears that brain exercises help increase performance on those specific brain activities that are part of the brain training, but do not necessarily generalize to other cognitive activities, something that some companies have been successfully sued for claiming. It seems that there is benefit in challenging the brain to engage in new activities that it has not done before.
Click here to read the full article
Title IX Rules: 6 More States Sue Biden Admin Over ‘Radical and Illegal’ Changes
As predicted, lawsuits against the new Title IX rules have appeared. Girls and parents of girls everywhere will cheer.
Click here to read the full article
The Real Healing Effects of Placebos on Diseases Are Overshadowed by Drugs
We’re all familiar with placebos, but this article explains why placebos often produce healing effects. Worthwhile article to read.
Click here to read the full article
Pastor John MacArthur says there is no such thing as mental illness, calls PTSD ‘grief’
Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in California, who is also the President of Master’s College and Seminary, says that there is no such thing as mental illness, but such symptoms are actually sin. He bases his teaching in part on the books “A Profession Without Reason” and “The Myth of Mental Illness.”
Click here to read the full article
Brain imaging study reveals connections critical to human consciousness
In another important advance for neuroscience researchers have found the neural pathways which they believe are responsible for human consciousness. In the future this information may be helpful in understanding and treating neurological disorders.
Click here to read the full article
Three Conditions for Which Cannabis Appears to Help
This headline is somewhat misleading. Medical cannabis is sometimes prescribed for neuropathic pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea or vomiting, and spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis. If you read the article, you’ll see that the evidence for positive effects of cannabis is based on low-quality research studies, and the evidence for harms that cannabis causes is much stronger. So this raises questions about the wisdom of current government efforts to move cannabis from a schedule 3 drug to a schedule 1 (much milder) drug.
Click here to read the full article
A Guide to Bipolar Disorder Medication
Bipolar patients often have a love-hate relationship with medication. While specialists in this area agree that medication is crucial in terms of successful stabilization, many of these medications produce frustrating side effects. As a counselor you may find it necessary to encourage your bipolar clients to be patient and persistent in working with their psychiatrists until they find the right medication and dosage that will work for them, along with working with them to do what they can to stabilize their moods.
Click here to read the full article
5 Common Bipolar Medication Frustrations and How to Safely Manage Them
This article tackles some of the most common frustrations that occur with bipolar medications with some practical suggestions and how to manage them.
Click here to read the full article
Anger for 8 minutes raises heart attack risk
If you are working with a client on anger management and they need some additional motivation to tackle this problem, this article published in the “New Scientist” publication might help. Although none of the clients in this study had a heart attack during the study, the physical symptoms measured indicated that they could have. Fortunately there are counseling methods that you could help them learn that would help them reduce their anger in less than 8 minutes.
Click here to read the full article
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Decreased Suicide Attempts in Youths with Bipolar Disorder
As many as one in two youths with bipolar disorder attempt suicide. This research found that DBT with such youths decreased the likelihood of such attempts.
Click here to read the full article
‘Menopause brain’ is real. Here’s how women’s brains change in midlife.
Usually Washington Post articles aren’t available unless you have a subscription. However, this one was an exception, at least for me. If you can’t read it, the gist is that brain scan studies indicated that female brains undergo several significant changes during menopause, so their complaints of “brain fog” really do have a basis in reality.
Click here to read the full article
Have a wonderful week or weekend!
Henry Virkler