Articles from the Week of September 20, 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
“You can build something beautiful even from the stones that are put in your way.”
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
Helen Keller
It always helps to have people we love beside us when we have to do difficult things in life.
Fred Rogers
Fascinating Facts
Those pandas may not actually be pandas
The Shanwei zoo admitted what many visitors had suspected. They apparently were not able to obtain real pandas, so painted dogs to look like pandas. The ruse was discovered when the dogs started panting and barking.
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The longest time between two twins being born is 90 days.
Two fraternal twins were born with this incredible gap because one was born prematurely. The mother was given drugs to stop contractions, and the second was born at the full gestation date, 90 days later.
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Counseling Articles
TikTok Is Not the Place to Go for Sound Parenting Advice
I don’t think you need to read this article, but apparently many parents are going to TikTok and social media to learn how to raise their children. “Gentle parenting” has 300 million posts.
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Frequent Porn Use Is Linked to Negative Mental Health Among Gen-Z and Millennials
Young adults are accessing porn more and more often, and the more frequently they do, the higher the percentage who report that they are either depressed or suicidal.
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New study finds top medical schools value left-wing activism over science
In a rather disquieting study, one study of the curricula of top medical schools found that more classes are appearing in the curriculum for training future doctors that emphasize social activism over medicine. For many of us we may want to stick with our trusted doctors who were trained in the past.
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“I Just Want Your Advice!”
For many years we were told never to give a client advice, even if they asked for it. Here are how four seasoned therapists respond to that question. Each responds differently, and I think their responses are worthwhile considering.
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Woman Emerges from 500 Days in An Underground Cave – How She Survived Shocked Everyone
A Spanish woman, who intentionally spent 500 days alone in an underground cave, shares her experiences. Researchers hope to use her to study how the mind and body adapt to long periods of isolation.
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The Hidden Dangers of Over-Attachment in Love
If you’re working with a couple where one or both may have an unhealthy level of dependency on the other, or if you’re working with an individual where you or they realize they have unhealthy dependencies, this article might be a good discussion-starter.
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More Intensive Early Autism Treatment Not Tied to Better Outcomes
One experimental approach to treating autism has been to give intensive treatment (20 to 40 hours per week) to children as soon as they are diagnosed. This research study looked at 144 studies which assessed four different types of interventions--Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions, which were child-led and focused on delivering therapy within natural environments and routines such as play, traditional behavioral interventions, which were adult-led and made use of instruction, prompting, and positive reinforcement, technology-based interventions that relied on devices such as computers or robots, and developmental interventions, which were child-led and worked on skills to achieve developmental milestones. This meta-analysis concluded that more intensive early treatment did not lead to better outcomes.
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Women are using the 6-6-6 dating rule to find the perfect man
In case you’re wondering what the 6-6-6 rule is, eligible men must be at least six feet tall, have 6 pack abs, and make at least 6 figures. Glad that rule wasn’t around when I was young or I’d still be a bachelor!
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My 25 Rules for Life: A Practical Cure for ADHD Shame and Stagnation
This is an article by Michelle Novotni, a psychologist who has a child with ADHD, about 25 tips she’s learned to help those with ADHD (and their caregivers) manage life. The rules make quite a lot of sense, but 25 is a lot to take in at once. I’d recommend having people make a copy of this article, then work on one or two tips at a time.
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“Masking with ADHD Is the Ultimate Energy Drain”
People with ADHD, even before they know they have ADHD, realize there are things about their personalities that others don’t approve of. As a result, many of them develop “masks,” where they constantly suppress or hide those traits. This article, by someone with ADHD who developed the habit of masking her ADHD traits, describes the long-term results of doing so, and what she’s doing now instead.
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Pregnancy changes the brain in multiple ways
Using scans of blood flow, a neuroscientist, Liz Chrastil, studied how the brain changes during pregnancy. She found that there are several ways that the brain changes in preparation for motherhood, with changes in 70 to 80% of the brain.
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A Book I Recommend for Every Christian Counselor and Parent of Children and Teens
Probably one of the most anxious concerns of Christian parents today is that their child will come home from school and announce that they were born in the wrong body. The transgender phenomenon has swept through Europe and is now in the United States. Most parents are unprepared for this happening, many families have been torn apart by this conflict, and in some states children have been removed from their homes and parents have lost custody if they have refused to affirm their child’s new identity.
Even though a half dozen of the European countries that had previously championed the transgender movement have now decided that further research needs to be done before encouraging children to enter this path, and an intensive four-year study in Great Britain (the Cass Report) has caused that country to prohibit counselors from encouraging children to pursue a transgender process, the U.S. still lags in recognizing the paucity of research supporting this phenomenon. And if parents seek counseling for their children, a majority of secular and school counselors will encourage their children to pursue the transgender protocol (puberty-suppressing drugs, then cross-sex hormones, then sex-change surgery).
However, a new book, Answers of Gender Madness, helps parents see that they need not go along with this new trend. Including both solid Christian teaching and well-documented research, it helps parents know that they can remain loving and patient with their children without giving into to their children’s ideas, and that during puberty between 75 and 85% of children will return to affirming the gender they were born with. And the warning that refusing to affirm the child’s new gender will lead to suicide has been thoroughly debunked.
In addition to giving practical guidance this book will connect them with resources (professional counselors and parent groups) who will support them as they navigate this difficult challenge. The book is written by Christine Sneeringer, who has earned an advanced degree in counseling at PBA and a theology degree from Oxford. This issue is personal for her as she walked through her own battle with gender dysphoria. For every parent of young children and for every Christian counselor (even if your specialty is not children) I think the information is so important that we should all read it. This short book (about 100 pages) can be ordered from the website Gender Madness book
I hope you have a good week or weekend!
Henry Virkler