Articles from the Week of September 27, 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
Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.
Stephen Covey
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.
Maya Angelou
Intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.
Barbara Johnson
It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.
George Washington
I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.
Maya Angelou
History is a strange teacher. It never repeats itself exactly, but you ignore its general lessons at your peril.
Madeleine Albright
I think it's nice to age gracefully. OK, you lose the youth, a certain stamina and dewy glow, but what you gain on the inside as a human being is wonderful: the wisdom, the acceptance, and the peace of mind. It's a fair exchange.
Cherie Lunghi
Fascinating Facts
Cotton candy was invented by a dentist.
Cotton candy consists of just two simple ingredients: air and sugar. It was invented by a dentist, Dr. William James Morrison, in 1897. He was an impressive inventor, and among other things, developed a method of producing purified water. He also co-developed a machine for producing candy. Perhaps he may be forgiven somewhat because he also co-developed dental floss (Source: HistoryFacts.com).
The Weight of the Internet is about the same as three strawberries
This may seem incredibly small but is an estimate of the total weight of the electrons that make the internet function. The weight of the information stored on the internet is even smaller, estimated at .2 millionths of an ounce. These estimates are from 2007, so the growth of the internet since that time may make these estimates slightly larger (Source: InterestingFacts.com).
Counseling Articles
God’s Promises about Heaven
If you’re counseling with someone who has questions or apprehensions about heaven, either because they are facing their own mortality or have just lost a loved one, here are some comments from Randy Alcorn that I think will be comforting.
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Tips For Dealing with An Unfaithful Partner
If you’re dealing with someone who has just learned their partner is unfaithful, it’s important to slow them down, so they don’t make important decisions that have permanent consequences before talking them through. This could be a good article to help slow them down until the first counseling session.
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An Unlikely Cure for a 9/11 Hero: How Forgiveness Improves Mental and Physical Health
The people we work with often have to deal with abuse and what to do with the resentment that naturally comes with it. This story and research studies that follow affirm that ultimately helping clients to work toward forgiveness is the best solution for their healing.
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Important Issues for Us All to Think About
This past Tuesday Albert Mohler had some important thoughts that I think have relevance for us all and that all of us could benefit from. Let me encourage you to take 25 minutes to listen to his discussion that day.
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The Bank Deposited A BILLION Dollars into Her Account and She Can’t Find a Way to Return it
Not a counseling article, but something you might find interesting. A woman in Largo, Florida has one billion dollars deposited into her Chase Banking account. She’s tried to call the bank several times but can never get through the automated telephone system to talk to a person.
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How Neuralink Will Change the World
I’ve run an occasional article about how Elon Musk’s group of neuroscientists have enabled seriously disabled individuals to regain physical functions or the capability to speak, but here is a general article about how neuralink may possibly change our worlds in the future (at least for those of you who are younger). It’s a well-written, informative article that’s worth reading.
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Hypomania: Understanding Bursts of Energy, Insomnia, and Racing Thoughts
For those of us who not have a mood disorder, hearing stories of people with Bipolar 1 or 2 can be interesting and informative. Here is an interesting account of someone who appears to have bipolar 2.
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Trial of Training to Reduce Driver Inattention in Teens with ADHD
Driver inattention is a major cause of accidents in teens with ADHD. This well-designed study compared how much teens kept their eyes off the road after going through a standard Driver’s Ed course versus when they were given training that helped them maintain more focus on the road; it found substantial improvement with the specialized training.
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Early Childhood Screen Use Contexts and Cognitive and Psychosocial Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
This meta-analysis started with approximately 7,000 experiments, and then settled on 100 to study extensively. The conclusions were similar to what you may have heard before, but I think have relevance for parents and the guidance we give our children.
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Research: Excessive Screen Time for Preschoolers Leads to More Outbursts — and Even More Screen Time
Here’s a second article on the same research, this one written in less technical language and probably more practical for the average person and parent to read. One important conclusion: the reviewer encourages parents to carefully consider giving screens to preschoolers: there may be other activities that are healthier for them to be involved in.
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Sextortion Scams and Teen Suicide: One Father's Urgent Warning
You may already have read how sextortion can cause a teenager to go from being a normal teenager to committing suicide in a matter of hours. If you haven’t already read how this can happen, its important to read this process so you can warn your children and clients.
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Teen Faces Life Sentence in Shocking Family Tragedy in Mississippi
Normally teenagers are not given life sentences, but this teenage girl was given two life sentences plus 10 years for murdering her mother, attempting to murder her father, and evidence tampering. If you are not already aware of the details of these crimes, if you read them you may understand why she received such a severe sentence.
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Psilocybin Bests SSRI for Major Depression in First Long-Term Comparison
This study compared psilocybin versus an SSRI (escitalopram or Lexapro), both followed by counseling. While both treatments reduced depression similarly, on several other measures of well-being the psilocybin outperformed the SSRI. Counselors could probably fairly easily perform the follow up counseling with psilocybin, so this may be a modality to consider offering if further research substantiates these findings.
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State AGs Demand AAP Retract Claim That Puberty Blockers Are Reversible
Transgender activists and the present administration have both claimed that puberty blockers are reversible. But the recent Cass Report, carefully prepared over four years, has identified several medical issues that are not fully reversible, even if someone discontinues using puberty blockers. This is probably one more reason why several European countries and Great Britain have stopped encouraging children to start on the transgender protocol.
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10 Most Devastating Effects of Getting Rid of the Department of Education
If you need a little humor to brighten your day you may enjoy the Babylon Bee’s sense of humor in this article.
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Study Provides Unprecedented View of Profound Brain Changes Over the Course of Pregnancy
I included an article on this topic last week, but this article provides more detail on the profound changes that happen in women’s brains during pregnancy as they prepare for the birth of their child.
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Parenting Trends People Disagree with Today
A good overview of changes in parenting trends, and some good advice that you could use to start discussions with parents when you think that would be helpful.
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How Conditions Change Your Brain
A good introductory article on how many different conditions affect our brains—PTSD, depression, stroke, alcohol use disorder, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, migraines, brain aneurisms, bipolar disorder, concussions, multiple sclerosis, ADHD, meditation, and exercise.
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Have a wonderful week or weekend!
Henry Virkler