Articles from the Week of February 7, 2025

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

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.

Leonardo DaVinci

In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

Patti Smith

Anger, resentment, and jealousy doesn’t change the heart of others — it only changes yours.

Shannon Alder

Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort.

Fred Rogers

You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

Lao Tzu

A kind and compassionate act is often its own reward.

William John Bennett

"When you hate, the only person that is suffering is you because most of the people you hate don’t know it and the rest don't care."

Medgar Evers

"We must reach out our hand in friendship and dignity both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy."

Arthur Ashe

Fascinating Facts

What Lies Beneath Antarctica’s Ice Sheets

As the ice sheets covering Antarctica continue to melt, a fascinating world is being revealed. Even though this has nothing to do with counseling, its tremendously interesting.

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Bonobos can spot bozos: Apes can tell when humans act stupid, says study

It has long been of interest whether animals can discern the mental functioning of other creatures such as humans. Now one study has shown that apes can differentiate between humans who are relatively normal and those who act foolishly and can even warn their peers of this difference.

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Humpback Whale Singing

Researchers have now found that there are some patterns in whale songs that resemble patterns in human language, but they don’t know whether those patterns are a form of communication. So we probably won’t be talking with whales anytime soon.

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Counseling Articles

A Warning About a New Kind of Scam

This week I received a call saying that my identity had been stolen and was being used for money laundering. The caller identified themselves as from a federal agency and gave me their name, badge number, phone number and a case number for my case. Before giving them any significant information I emailed the federal agency and asked if the person is one of their agents. I haven’t received a response yet, but two friends whom I’ve talked with said the same thing has happened to them. So even if the caller gives their name, phone number, badge number and case number, take the time to confirm that they are legitimate before giving them any information.

A Precision-Health Approach to Bipolar Disorder

I don’t think this is a very good title for this article. It’s a very good explanation for someone who is just learning about bipolar disorder and the variations within this disease. It explains the amount of time typically spent in the various phases of this disorder. So it might be useful to explain the basics to someone who’s just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

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Young Adult Mortality 70 Percent Higher Than Expected, Mostly from Unnatural Causes, Study Finds

Deaths among young people are 70% higher than expected. Three of the highest causes of this rise are drug poisoning, alcohol use and natural causes (medical problems of various sorts). For those who counsel young people this is important information.

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Delayed Dream Sleep an Early Sign of Alzheimer's

Although this doesn’t have any significance for your counseling yet, it’s an important insight. It’s found that people with Alzheimer's have delayed REM cycles and delays in beginning dreaming. So if you’re older and begin having dreams almost as soon as you fall asleep, that may be a good sign!

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Creating Habits for Bipolar Stability — 5 Secrets That Don’t Rely on Willpower

Here are five very specific things that people with bipolar disorder can easily incorporate into their daily routines that will help them maintain stable moods. Written by a person with bipolar disorder who has maintained stability for several years.

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Being social could delay dementia onset by five years

In a large study, researchers found that being socially involved delayed dementia onset five years in older adults. If you work with middle-aged or older adults this is important information to share with them.

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10 reasons why the Pentecostal Church is growing in the US

Although not a counseling article, this may be of interest to many Christians, for many churches have little growth and some denominations are losing members. I think some of these methods could be employed by other churches, even if they are not Pentecostal in their doctrine.

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How Weight-Loss Drugs Can Upend a Marriage

Unfortunately you won’t be able to read this article without a subscription to the New York Times. However, since some of you do marriage counseling I’ll try to summarize some of its points. People start one of the new weight-loss drugs for various reasons: often one of them is some medical concern. And the weight-loss drugs, where 60-pound weight loss is not uncommon, often do improve medical health. But there are often physical complications, which doctors usually go over, such as diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, headache — as well as the need for modifications in diet and exercise. 

But medical doctors often do not discuss the relationship changes that can occur when one or both partners begin one of the new weight-loss drugs. Sometimes one individual (often the male) misses the softness and voluptuousness of his former mate. Sex drive often decreases for males and females, and sometimes intimacy drops significantly. Bonding times with each other and with friends, which often center around shared meals, sometimes drop precipitously. Divorces and separations increase when one or both are on the new weight-loss drugs.

So if you are counseling with an individual or couple on weight-loss drugs, you should be aware that these are common side effects and help the couple address these changes if they cause problems in the relationship.

[Incidentally, I often include references and summaries of New York Times articles, and I recognize that sometimes the New York Times includes excellent and informative articles. However, they are so biased on progressive-conservative issues that I do not recommend subscribing to the paper yourself.]

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The Biggest Regret

Richard Simmons summarizes a book by an author who interviewed 26,000 people from 130 countries about the biggest regret they had in their lives. The biggest regrets were organized into four categories. This author’s findings, and Simmons’ discussion may provide helpful thoughts in your conversations with clients.

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From Anxiety to Animosity: How Social Media Damages Relationships

I think this article could more comprehensively be titled “How Social Media Damages our Ability to Learn and Think Critically and Maintain Deep Relationships.” It begins with the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” then goes on to the book “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” and then ends with a preview of “Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart.” Ask yourself, in the fifteen years since social media became so prominent, are you able to concentrate on a long, in-depth book as well as you did before? And even though you may have more casual glimpses of more people’s lives, what has happened to your deep friends? I think the article and upcoming book may have something important to alert us to. Click here to read the full article Printing, Literacy, and America’s “Report Card”

This article starts out with a reminder of how Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press revolutionized the spread of ideas and education but then focuses on how the trends discussed in the previous article are threatening to erase that progress. Both seem to be true.

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What Is ASMR Sex?

If you haven’t heard of ASMR sex, you’re probably not alone. ASMR stands for Autonomous sensory meridian response, and refers to any kind of stimulus such as sights or sounds that elicit a pleasant experience and thus can enhance a sexual experience. If you’re intrigued you can learn more from this article. If you identify what kind of ASMR experience pleases you, you can pair it with sex to produce a more pleasing sexual experience.

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Hospitals Across U.S. Stop Transitioning Children

This article discusses the fact that several hospitals across the U.S. have discontinued or paused transitioning children because of President Trump’s executive order. (One exception is New York City where there is a movement to defy his order, which will probably produce a court hearing regarding what happens when an executive order from the President conflicts with a state law.)

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How to Not Procrastinate

People with ADHD are legendary procrastinators. However, they’re not the only people who struggle with this issue. Here is an article with some really good tips for those who are procrastinators. It’s written for people with ADHD, but I think some of the tips could be helpful for anyone who struggles with this issue.

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A Discipleship of Discomfort

An excellent article from Christianity Today. The main point is one that I think could be used in Christian counseling. Often the things God calls us to cause us to move out of our comfort zone. But when we embrace the discomfort, we often find that the rewards we get by following God’s call more than make up for the comfort we gave up.

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Abuse has been mischaracterized as 'women’s issues'

The author makes the points that physical abuse is primarily directed against women by men, and that unfortunately, it is not significantly less in Christian families than in non-Christian ones. She mentions that, according to Scripture, individuals are encouraged to take proactive steps to protect those who are abused, and suggests that men should take a more assertive role in addressing this issue.

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Why Gen X Women Are Having the Best Sex

This article is in the New York Times so you won’t be able to read it without subscription and there are a few things that I wouldn’t encourage you to read if you had access. However, one point that I think is worthwhile is that while many people believe that young people have the best sex, this middle-aged woman makes the points that because she is now less inhibited than she was when younger, more experienced and knows what she wants and feels comfortable asking for it, she’s having the best sex in her life.

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Unraveling the Hidden Epidemic: Child Trafficking and Drug Abuse in El Paso

Here’s a sad article about a tragic new trend—parents who are trafficking their own children to support their drug addictions.

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Marijuana Dependence Linked to Higher Risk of Death

This is another article the New York Times, so you won’t be able to read it without a subscription, so I’ll summarize some of its major points. Two large Canadian studies found several things. I’ll include a few quotes, since they summarize the points so well.

“Hospital and emergency room patients diagnosed with cannabis use disorder — defined as an inability to stop using cannabis even when the drug is causing harm — died at almost three times the rate of individuals without the disorder over the next five years.

“Patients with cannabis use disorder were 10 times as likely to die by suicide as those in the general population. They were also more likely to die from trauma, drug poisonings and lung cancer. Those numbers suggest that cannabis use disorder is about half as dangerous as opioid addiction and slightly less dangerous than alcohol use disorder, the researchers said.”

” A second report, published on Tuesday, found that more cases of schizophrenia and psychosis in Canada have been linked to cannabis use disorder since the drug was legalized.”

So while many believe that cannabis is harmless and more states in the U.S. are legalizing recreational use of marijuana, the marijuana available today is much stronger than the marijuana of previous decades, and about 1/3 of people who use marijuana recreationally will develop cannabis use disorder.

As one of the researchers commented: “It is a public health threat just like alcohol.”

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Ye Says He Has Autism Rather Than Bipolar Disorder

Kanye West (Ye) has been in the news this week because of his and his wife’s scandalous appearance at the Grammy’s, but his most recent announcement is that he has autism rather than bipolar disorder. I’m not sure we should take anything he says as credible, but because he is so well-known, I thought this bit of news was noteworthy. (Also from the New York Times.)

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 I hope you’ve enjoyed this sampling of the counseling news stories and that you have a wonderful week!

Henry Virkler