Articles from the Week of July 4, 2025
Happy 4th of July!
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
"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration."
John Adams, July 3, 1776
"Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on."
Thurgood Marshall
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."
Helen Keller
"Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities because they fear failure. They don't understand commitment."
Pat Summitt
“Profound thought is conveyed in language of very great simplicity and purity.”
Charlotte Mason
"Carry out a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you."
Princess Diana
“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
George Bernard Shaw
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“The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious and may revolutionize a whole town.”
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Eleanor H. Porter, "Pollyanna"
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Fascinating Facts
I didn’t run across anything to put in this section this week.
Counseling Articles
Did you know: The Declaration of Independence is a deeply religious document?
On this 4th of July, its helpful to reminded that our Declaration of Independence is a deeply religious document and that most of our founders had a strong belief in the Christian God.
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Gender dysphoria should be treated with therapy instead of transition treatments
An HHS study concluded that the effectiveness of transgender treatments for gender dysphoria do not show mental health improvements to justify making lifelong changes to individuals’ ability to bear children. Studying the results of 17 research studies, they concluded that the U.S. should follow the lead of medical groups in Europe in not providing such treatments until research demonstrates that such treatments clearly improve the mental health of children and teens, and that professionals should offer counseling instead.
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Sometimes AI Just Makes Stuff Up
I think we all realize that AI will have an important role to play in the future, but lest we become too complacent about accepting AI results without question, this educator found in her research that AI programs sometimes simply fabricated things that did not exist.
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Jordan Peterson’s Achilles Heel
Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson has burst on the scene and is widely recognized for several things, including his unwillingness to be bullied by the transgender movement, his parenting seminars, and his work on the Bible. He seems to genuinely respect Scripture but interestingly, does not consider himself a Christian, even though several of his family members consider themselves to be so. This article helps explain his relationship to Christianity better. It appears that the thinking of Jung has significantly affected his thoughts about Jesus and Christianity, who believed that the biblical stories were myths (powerful stories that told important lessons) and that Jesus was an archetype. For those of us who have heard this remarkable man speak, let’s pray that he will come to embrace these stories as true events and Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world. Worthwhile reading.
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Christian camp reaches settlement with Colorado over transgender accommodation rules
A Christian camp in operation for 75 years was allowed to not have to have boys and girls share the same bathrooms and bedrooms, after successfully arguing that it should be exempt from the state transgender policies because it is a religiously aligned institution. Christian parents in Colorado will be comforted, and hopefully this precedent will be recognized by other states that are considering similar transgender policies.
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Supreme Court Issues Final Rulings for This Year’s Term: 6 Takeaways
While not a counseling-related article, this article summarizes 6 decisions the Supreme Court handed down on the last day of the 2025 session.
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Weekly Pill Platform Succeeds in Schizophrenia, With Much Wider Promise
Patients with schizophrenia frequently forget to take their medication each day, which compromises the effectiveness of their treatment. Now a once-weekly medication that can be taken by mouth shows good success and may be a more useful treatment for these patients.
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Virtual Reality Therapy Shows Promise for Paranoia
This research study compared the effectiveness of regular CBT with virtual reality CBT. Some clients had difficulty with traditional CBT, so the virtual reality CBT offers an alternative. If you work with any clients who struggle with paranoia, this article is worthwhile reading.
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Novel PDE10A Inhibitor for Acute Schizophrenia Safe, Effective in Large Phase 2 Trial
People with schizophrenia sometimes have acute psychotic episodes, and this new drug seems to be both safe and effective in treating those episodes.
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10 Ways to Support Someone Who Has Bipolar
This is a column by the late Stephen Propst, who died in 2022. Since he lived with bipolar disorder for several decades before his passing, his advice about how to support someone with bipolar disorder is wise and born out of much experience.
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‘Coming Out’ About Bipolar Disorder: What to Expect and How to Prepare
Someone who has bipolar disorder may have questions about whether to share their diagnosis with family and friends. This article talks about 8 benefits of doing so.
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Considering Who to Tell About Your Bipolar Diagnosis?
This author, who has a bipolar diagnosis, explains one situation when she didn’t tell an employer about her diagnosis (and believed she made the right decision in that instance) and other times when she has done so, and gives some suggestions about how to decide whether to share.
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Where Are You on the Mood Spectrum?
We used to teach that there were two versions of bipolar disorder—Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2. This article makes the important point that, while some people may clearly fit into one of these two categories, some people are on a spectrum between these two, and treatment should be adapted to fit what works best for them. If you occasionally or regularly work with clients with bipolar disorder, this article is worthwhile reading.
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8 Ways to Stay Ahead of Bipolar Depression
People with bipolar disorder often live with constant anxiety about having another episode. This article identifies 8 steps they can take when they are concerned that another episode may be approaching.
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Is running harmful to your knees? The answer might surprise you
We all know that maintaining some form of fitness is important for our physical and mental health. For those who are trying to stay fit, running is a common form of exercise. Some people worry that running could harm their knees or increase their chances of developing arthritis. This article says that if you don’t have any pre-existing knee problems, running won’t harm your knees and that runners even have a lower probability of developing arthritis than those who don’t run.
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Why a Therapy Student Risked Her Career to Expose Sexually Explicit Lessons
This student in a marriage and family program was taking a course in human sexuality and attending an internship where she was exposed to a bdsm dungeon. She said such exposure was unnecessary for her to become a good therapist. As a result she was rejected from completing the program and her internship and is appealing her ejection. I think she’s a good model for us to consider in standing up against the tide of secularism that is encompassing our secular universities.
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How Patience Delays the Aging of Cells
This article discusses some research that supports the idea of developing patient attitudes, and some ways to do that.
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What I Heard on a Suicide Hotline for Trans Kids
This is an article from the New York Times, so you probably won’t be able to read it unless you have a subscription. It is written by someone who volunteered on a suicide hotline. Some of the callers were trans kids, but the line was for anyone who felt suicidal. I think one of the main points is summarized in four sentences found in the middle of the article: “a common thread running through these calls is the desperate search for just one trusted adult. If the callers had one, there is a good chance they might not have had the need to reach us. One trusted adult could help them figure out how to open up to their families and friends. One trusted adult could get them through a tough night when they feel utterly hopeless.” I think this just reinforces the importance of the counseling services we provide.
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Scans Reveal What The Brains of Psychopaths Have in Common
This study found small differences (1.5%) in the brain volume in certain parts of the brain of those identified as psychopaths. I’m not convinced that these small differences are enough to produce psychopathy (remember, correlation doesn’t prove causation). I think psychopathy is more likely related to upbringing and religious training (or lack of it) than to small differences in brain volume. Read the article and see what you think.
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Former medium warns Christians against the occult: ‘No such thing as a good witch’
Not a counseling article, but this is a powerful story of a young woman who became involved in the occult for 20 years, but whom the Lord reached, and she has now become a believer with a powerful ministry to those Christians who believe that it is possible to mix Christianity with the occult and mix things like astrology, horoscopes, etc. into their lives.
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Men Doing More Housework Won’t Raise Fertility
This is a thorough assessment of several studies that take a bit of time to read, so I’ll give a summary. The research says that pressuring men to do more housework probably won’t increase fertility, but women’s perception of unfairness about demands within the marriage is important, and until that is dealt with, women will probably not be inclined to have children (or more children).
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For Families, Dumb Phones Might Be the Smart Choice
With all the research about the dangers of smartphones for children and teens, an increasing number of families are choosing “dumb phones” for their children and are encouraging parents to put off purchasing smartphones for their teens as long as they can. FOMO (fear of missing out) appears to decline after a few weeks, and dumb phones allow children to contact parents, classmates, etc. for important things, and in case of emergency.
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Married Fatherhood Is Key to Solving the Masculinity Crisis
Young men in general are not doing well on several indices. This research says that marriage and fatherhood appear to help these males mature in several ways.
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Have a wonderful 4th!
Henry Virkler