Articles from the Week of October 18, 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
A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Of course I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Epictetus
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
Epictetus
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
CONFUCIUS
Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it.
Gilda Radner
"You can't make good decisions unless you have good information and can separate facts from opinion and speculation."
Colin Powell
Fascinating Facts
The human heart: The fist-sized organ in our chests is a miracle of engineering. It can adjust its rate of beating depending on our activity. The average heart beats 100,800 times in one day, and in the lifespan of 77.5 years, an average heart beats 2.85 billion times. (Source: livescience.com)
A pumpkin weighing 2,471 pounds won a California contest this year (Source: The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif.)
Impulses travel in our brains at up to speeds of 286 mph! Depending on the nerve fiber a signal is passing through, some impulses travel as slowly as 1 mph. (Source: InterestingFacts.com)
Counseling Articles
Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Counseling and Psychotherapy
Recently Aaron Norton presented a webinar on the above topic. This is probably one of the most informative CEU programs I have ever attended in more than 40 years! I know that some of you may have missed it because of the hurricanes or other responsibilities, but if you did, I encourage you to take it through SFACC’s On-Demand service. I’ve tested out ChatGPT on my computer and can see how easy and valuable it would be to integrate it into Christian counseling. (Yes, even though Artificial Intelligence isn’t a Christian method, I think you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to discover Christian concepts that you could easily incorporate into your counseling.)
Valentino has made it very easy to learn more about the webinar and then, if you decide to take it, to be able to register for it at https://sfacc.net/event-5916123
If you don’t read anything more in this week’s Friday Mailing, I think this is the most important thing you could do.
No Little People, No Little Places
Randy Alcorn relates how he visited his sister who has dementia. In answer to the question from someone about why he did that even though she may not remember him, he gave an answer that I think could help us all know the variety of things we can do to minister to those who may not remember us.
Click here to read the full article
Porn and Self-Love: What Young Women Need to Know
While many articles on the dangers of pornography focus on men, this article focuses what drives young girls to view porn and on the dangers it causes for teens and young women. At the end it also includes some resources for those who realize they’ve become addicted to it.
Click here to read the full article
Devaluing Children and Motherhood
This woman discusses the struggles she went through as she considered leaving her professional career and devoting herself to her family. She talks about some of the early studies that portrayed children and motherhood in a negative light, and how some of those early negative studies have since been debunked. If you work with couples or young women trying to decide the best path for themselves I think you’ll find her thoughts worthwhile to consider.
Click here to read the full article
I’m a child psychiatrist — this is the most common parenting mistake I see
An article that makes a lot of sense. If you’re a parent or a person who counsels with parents I encourage you to read it.
Click here to read the full article
New IVF Law Turns State Into a ‘Factory That Creates Humans’
In vitro fertilization has allowed many couples to have children who previously were unsuccessful, and this has undoubtedly been a wonderful blessing to them. However, in recent years a growing number of theologians and ethicists have raised questions about what happens to the thousands of children who are left in freezers permanently. This thoughtful article by a Christian mother who had a child through IVF but now wonders about his many brothers and sisters who now remain in frozen storage. And now a new state law will probably increase the number of children who will remain in frozen storage indefinitely.
Click here to read the full article
Psilocybin Bests SSRI for Major Depression in First Long-Term Comparison
I included this research study a couple weeks ago, but I think this article makes a few important insights clearer. Here is a quote from the article: “"Psychiatrists really focus on negative symptoms of depression. So, if you are not sad anymore, if your sleep or appetite is not impaired, they think you're better. But if you look at what patients define as important, they say it's the degree in which their life is meaningful, in which they can connect with people around them, in which they can function in everyday life," Barba said.
So I think counselors need to take this research seriously. We can still provide the follow-up counseling after the psilocybin treatments just as we did after SSRI treatments, but our clients may feel better as we’re doing so.
Click here to read the full article
Cultural Icon: Celebrating the Legacy of the Iconic Sex Therapist
Well-known sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer passed away this past week. She lived a remarkable life, escaped from Nazi Germany during WWII, served as a sniper in the Israeli army before earning a doctorate and becoming a well-known sex educator in media. She credited her long life to talking about sex from morning until night.
Click here to read the full article
Why Judas’s Death Isn’t a Bible Contradiction
One thing that causes some people to have difficulty embracing the Christian faith is the idea that there are supposed contradictions in the Bible. One commonly-cited one are the two accounts of Judas Iscariot’s death. One account says he hanged himself; another says that he fell down, his body burst open, and his intestines fell out. While this article doesn’t answer every accusation about contradictions in the Bible, it does demonstrate that with careful study it is often possible to plausibly show how these two accounts can be reconciled with each other.
Click here to read the full article
Here’s when Elon Musk’s walking, talking Optimus robots could come to your house, experts say
Here’s some of the things Elon Musk’s newest invention, Optimus, could do around your house—mow the lawn, clean the kitchen, watch the children, among other things. For a modest price tag--$20,000.00 or so.
Click here to read the full article
Deep Links Between Alcohol and Cancer Are Described in New Report
You may not be able to read this article unless you have a subscription to the Times, so I will provide a description of some of its more important points. A recent study by the American Association of Cancer Research has been examining the troubling trend that although cancer death rates have been decreasing because of improving treatments, the incidence of cancer, especially young people, has been increasing.
There has been an especially alarming increase among younger adults in cancers of the gastrointestinal system, like colorectal cancer. A quote from the article says: “The report estimates that 40 percent of all cancer cases are associated with modifiable risk factors. It recommends reducing alcohol consumption, along with making lifestyle changes such as avoiding tobacco, maintaining a healthy diet and weight, exercising, avoiding ultraviolet radiation and minimizing exposure to pollutants.”
Drinking by young women was found to increase the likelihood of breast cancer. Another study in Great Britain looked at the assertion that light to moderate drinking protected from heart disease, something which had often promoted as a rationale for light drinking. This new research found that that finding was a myth.
Click here to read the full article
Helping Your Kids Find the “Awesome” in ADHD
It is common for parents of children with ADHD to focus on what their children are doing wrong. This mother recognizes that there are many frustrating things that happen, but in this article she chooses to look for the things where her neurodivergent child’s brain does awesome things.
Click here to read the full article
“My Husband and Son Were Diagnosed with ADHD — on the Same Day”
This wife and mother tells the story of how she came to discover that both her son and her husband have ADHD, and how they as a family are adjusting to that realization.
Click here to read the full article
“How ADHD Makes Me a Better Teacher”
Many of us have had the experience of teachers or pastors with ADHD that sometimes caused us frustrations as listeners (e.g., going down “rabbit holes”). This teacher looks at the opposite side of this—how her ADHD helps her be a better teacher.
Click here to read the full article
Young Girl DIES After Family Forced EXORCISM On Her
A very sad story of an attempted exorcism that resulted in the young (3-year-old) girl’s death.
Click here to read the full article
Autism research shows autistic brains are wired differently
While we’ve known for some time that autistic brains are wired differently, this research identifies some of the specific differences. While this research is still a way away from being clinically applicable, it is the first step in helping us provide better treatments and therapy.
Click here to read the full article
Father of deceased trans-identifying son breaks down, recalls pressure to affirm boy's gender confusion
This father of a boy who decided he was a girl in college was pressured by the psychology professors at his son’s college and a psychiatrist to accept his son’s new gender identity. Unfortunately the cross-gender hormones exacerbated his son’s long-standing cancer, leading to his death.
Click here to read the full article
The following two articles were sent to me by Wynne Stalling. If you run across an article you think would be helpful for your colleagues to read, please feel free to send them to me a hvirkler@aol.com Even though I try to find interesting articles to consider, if all of us share the good things we come across we can make this an even better newsletter.
Anthropologists Find That Risky Play Builds Confidence in Children
Parents today typically want to protect their children from any danger, but this article discusses the fact that some risk-taking play can be helpful to children for a variety of reasons, and that allowing children to engage in some risk-taking play may have more advantages than disadvantages. See what you think after reading it.
Click here to read the full article
Does spanking harm child development? Major study challenges common beliefs
For several decades we have been told that spanking is an ineffective form of discipline and can cause emotional harm to children. However, this very carefully done study and the following discussion suggest that those conclusions may not have been valid, and that limited spanking, especially with young children, can be a helpful part of parent’s disciplinary options. I encourage you not to draw conclusions until you’ve read this article yourself and evaluated the points these researchers make.
Click here to read the full article
Do-It-Yourself Brain Stimulation Is Growing in Popularity, but Is It Safe, Effective?
It is now possible to buy, though the Internet, or in certain stores, devices that claim to provide brain stimulation and may reduce anxiety or depression. Some of these devices are sham, and any relief people experience may be primarily due to the placebo effect. While there have not been any serious cases of harm done using these do-it-yourself devices, experts are concerned.
Click here to read the full article
No Single Antipsychotic Offers Cognitive Benefit in Schizophrenia Disorders
For some time there was the hope that one of the antipsychotics might offer some cognitive benefit for those suffering from schizophrenia. This research found that none of the antipsychotics offers benefit, and three appear to make cognitive functioning worse.
Click here to read the full article
Researchers Use ‘Mood Instability’ Measures to Re-Think How Best to Assess and Care for Bipolar Disorder Patients Over Time
People with either Bipolar 1 or Bipolar 2 have periods of mania or hypomania alternating with periods of significant depression and periods of remission. Each of these three phrases have significant differences between individuals. These researchers hypothesized that by using a mood instability measure and monitoring it for each individual over time they could identify which individuals would benefit from more intensive monitoring.
Click here to read the full article
Unseen Cost of Weight Loss and Aging: Tackling Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia, loss of muscle and strength, normally occurs as we age. It can lead to significantly increased risks of falls, broken bones, and doubles the risk of early death. It is feared that the growing use of GLP-1 medications to lose weight may also increase this risk. However, its not necessary to spend hours in the gym or purchase expensive gym memberships to reduce this risk. As the article explains, there are methods of strength training that only require modest amounts of time and no large expenditures. Especially because our career as counselors often involves sitting for long periods of time, please take the time to consider these recommendations.
Click here to read the full article
How farm animals survived Milton: ‘Animals are smarter than us’
Not a counseling article, but a heart-warming story of how some people took care of their farm animals during the recent hurricane. Usually the Washington Post doesn’t allow access to their articles without a subscription, but this article appears to be an exception.
Click here to read the full article
Reminder
If you haven’t checked out how you can improve your counseling skills (and getting 3 CEUs in the process) by watching Aaron Norton’s webinar Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Counseling and Psychotherapy go to https://sfacc.net/event-5916123now.
Hope you’ve enjoyed these articles!
Henry Virkler