Articles from the Week of February 14, 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

"A bell is no bell 'til you ring it, a song is no song 'til you sing it. And love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love 'til you give it away."

Oscar Hammerstein II from "Sound of Music"

If it's a broken part, replace it / If it's a broken arm, then brace it / If it's a broken heart, then face it

Jason Mraz

You are allowed to feel messed up inside and out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective — it just means you’re human.

David Mitchell

Don't dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.

Denis Waitley

"If I don't laugh at least three times during the day, I've had a bad day. I've got to have a minimum of at least three good laughs."

Lana Turner

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”

Victor Hugo

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it.

Winston Churchill

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.

Nelson Mandela 

We must be willing, individually and as a nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.

Helen Keller

Fascinating Facts

Science says this is the perfect way to boil eggs

I wasn’t aware of this fact until reading this article, but apparently egg yolks and whites cook at different temperatures, so cooking them perfectly takes some skill and patience. After reading the article, I think I’ll just stick with the old way, but if you’re interested, you can learn the “perfect” way.

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The Fastest New Supercomputer in the World Just Turned On

Although this has nothing to do with counseling, it’s a fascinating event and the article explains what makes these supercomputers so fast.  Elon Musk and his teams are not just involved in developing cars, space travel and DOGE, but are now developing supercomputers.

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Ph.D. student fact-checks disturbing claim about wind turbines: '[It's] important to put that into context'

Some on the Internet are saying that wind turbines are major killers of birds. Apparently wind turbines are far down the list of what kills birds. There may be concerns about wind turbines, i.e., their reliability in producing electricity during peak demand periods, but bird killing should probably not be a major concern about them.

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X-ray surveys and redshift analysis reveal Quipu, the universe’s largest known structure

Welcome to Quipu, the universe’s largest object. It is a mind-staggering 1.3 billion light years long and could hold 200 quadrillion of our suns!

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A humpback whale briefly swallows kayaker in Chilean Patagonia — and it’s all captured on camera

A kayaker had a frightening experience when a humpback whale surfaced and briefly swallowed him. Fortunately, the whale quickly decided to spit him back out.

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Counseling Articles

The Men Who Lost Their Babies

Probably most women and counselors have had experience counseling women who have lost babies, but there hasn’t been much written about men’s experience, and yet men may experience loss. They also may experience loss when their wives decide to abort a child, sometimes without their prior knowledge or consent. This article addresses those issues.

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Families, Doctors Sue Over Executive Order Ending Funding for Transgender Surgeries on Minors

Although not a counseling article, this newspaper article fairly reports both sides of the debate about President Trump’s executive orders blocking the federal funding for gender-affirming medical procedures and the lawsuits against those orders.

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Medical Cannabis Tied to Higher Addiction Risk Than Recreational Use

Last week’s summary of counseling articles told about a large Canadian study that found that about 30% of those who used cannabis recreationally developed substance abuse disorder. This article says that those who use medical cannabis have an even higher rate of substance abuse disorder than those who use cannabis recreationally. So if you have clients who are using cannabis either recreationally or medically, it may be worthwhile sharing this information with them. If they believe they need it for medical reasons, they can talk with their doctors about other treatments that might be alternatives to medical cannabis.

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My Approach to Alcohol Intake Counseling

Although this is one psychiatrist’s recommendations to other psychiatrists, there may be some things you as mental health counselors can use. Although the survey results given here suggests that some psychiatrists still say mild to moderate alcohol consumption is okay, the research I’ve been reading recently warns that any amount of alcohol consumption has some risks.

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ELCA 'herchurch' in San Francisco promotes 'goddess' worship, features 'resident witch'

Another non-counseling article, but just a glimpse at how far some churches that claim to be Christian churches, have strayed from biblical doctrine.

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Death and a Lifelong Love

The author of this article, Irving Yalom, was the author of an excellent textbook that was one of my required texts when I was in graduate school. Now he describes the heartfelt experience of checking his wife into a palliative care facility at the end of their long lives together. Sometimes hearing how some of our heroes face those times helps prepare us for the time we, or our clients, may face something similar.

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We Thought We Were Compassionate, but We Were Too Permissive

This article, by Nicholas Kristof, is in the New York Times so you won’t be able to read it without subscription. Here’s a summary: Its about a friend of the family, Drew, and his wife Sydney. Drew began using drugs at 12, and his wife, who was sexually abused as a child, also began using drugs at an early age. Nicholas Kristof thought that drug users should receive treatment. But as Doug and Sydney’s drug use grew and they began both selling and using drugs, both their lives spiraled out of control. Eventually Nicholas recognized that the only thing that would save Drew’s life would be prison and treatment. Doug eventually recognized this, went to prison and got treatment, and Sydney, after getting beaten up by a gang who stole her drugs, eventually got into treatment herself. Although the treatment programs are not perfect, both are recovering.

Kristof, who is still an ardent supporter of treatment programs, believes the legalization of drugs by some states on the West Coast was a mistake.

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13 Celebrities Share Their Self-Management Strategies for Bipolar Disorder

This article describes 13 celebrities, some of whom have other medical challenges in addition to bipolar disorder, and how each of them manages their bipolar disorder. If you have a client, this article would probably be an encouragement to them that it’s possible to have a successful life with bipolar.

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Marriage, Bipolar Disorder, and the Belief That Changed Everything

Here is a beautiful story of a couple who fell in love years before she had her first bipolar episode, the frightening experience of psychosis for her, and how her husband’s support during her illness and recovery made such an important difference. It could be useful to bipolar couples, but perhaps even for couples who face any challenges, and how their support for each other during those times is so important.

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Mewing, Beta Maxing, Gigachad, Baddie: Parents Are Drowning in New Lingo

If you have children, or if you counsel with children, you may struggle to keep up with their new vocabulary. Here’s an article that might help (or might not).

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Is God Having a Cultural “Moment”?

This Breakpoint article collects some of the moments that groups of people are affirming their belief in God and seems to point to the fact that many in our culture are realizing that secularism has not answered their questions. Even some who were known as atheists or agnostics are identifying themselves as “cultural Christians” believing that Christian morality makes for a healthier society, even though they have not become believers themselves. Perhaps some of your clients are among those searching.

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Jay Leno’s Private Life Goes Public

This article discusses how Jay Leno has shared some of the details of his private life publicly, particularly his life with Mavis, his wife, who has dementia and for whom he has been made a guardian. Despite that, he and she have public experiences, even public appearances, and she has shared about her life with dementia. So it is possible for couples to have a good life together, even with dementia and the other personal challenges Jay has recently faced. This might be a helpful article to share with couples where one of them is facing dementia to show that life can go on.

This article also reminded me of our last years with my wife’s father. He was a strong Christian and a very loving man. Those character qualities never left him, even when he no longer remembered who we were. And yet we could continue to love him and enjoy being with him, up until the day he went to be with the Lord. I think this reminds us of the importance of loving relationships, and that dementia does not have to end those relationships. And fortunately, the reality is that for most of us, even though old age does decrease our cognitive abilities to some degree, we will not develop dementia.

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Study: Relying on Artificial Intelligence Reduces Critical Thinking Skills

This study is one that you could possibly use in your counseling with clients. The study found that when professionals began to use AI to make decisions for them, it caused their critical thinking skills to lessen. It appears that using our minds to solve problems is the best way to keep our minds sharp.

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Scientists Just Discovered A Potential New Alzheimer's Cause

As we discussed several weeks ago, there has been much questionable research published about the cause(s) of Alzheimer's disease, and many papers have been retracted in the last couple years. Now a new theory about what causes Alzheimer's is being propounded. In a nutshell, there is hypothesis that stress granules form, and may start the process. These stress granules form on a regular basis and disappear. However, if they do not disappear, they may start the process that eventually leads to Alzheimer's. These stress granules are believed to be primarily caused by biological stress, not psychological stress, so factors that cause chronic biological stress on the body (toxins, smoking, traumatic injuries, lack of exercise) would be major culprits. We do know that chronic unresolved psychological stress can also be harmful, but the primary culprit in this hypothesis is chronic biological stress.

Remember, this is still a hypothesis.

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I hope you have someone to celebrate Valentine’s Day with today, and if you do not, I hope this coming year will bring someone into your life with whom to enjoy life. Life is so much better when you have a friend or companion with whom to share experiences.

Blessings!

Henry Virkler