Counseling News from the Week of October 17,2025
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
"We must know what we think and speak out, even at the risk of unpopularity."
Eleanor Roosevelt
“Endure the hardships of your present state, Live, and reserve yourselves for better fate.”
"Virgil, "Aeneid"
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”
HENRI MATISSE
“The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.”
Abraham Lincoln
“Medicine heals diseases of the body; wisdom frees the soul from passions.”
Democritus
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
Dwight D. Eisenhower
“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”
John Locke
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
Marie Curie
“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.”
Samuel Johnson, "The Prince of Abissinia"
Fascinating Facts
The Radioactive Wardrobe
Marie Curie has an amazing life story. As the person who named radioactivity, she pioneered in many scientific discoveries, was the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and is only one of five people who has been awarded two Nobel Prizes. For more on her incredible life, see this article.
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“My Worst Nightmare Coming To Reality”: People Stunned At Woman Being Caught Up In Olive Garden Hoax
A nightmare that could happen to any of us. Someone found a picture of this person, then created a totally fake story about her working as a waitress at Olive Garden and of a confrontation she initiated with two customers leading to her arrest. It was then posted on social media leading to national attention. This could happen to any of us.
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Counseling Articles
More Men in HEAL Jobs Would Boost Marriage Rates
This title is not very descriptive, and I would encourage every counselor to read this article because I think it will be useful in your future counseling. HEAL jobs refer to jobs in health (e.g., nursing), education, administration and literacy. The article dispels several of the beliefs that keep men from considering these fields. For examples, the demand for such jobs is likely to increase in coming years; most pay quite well, they allow for advancement, and they often do not require a four-year or graduate degree. They can also allow a man to express his masculinity in a variety of ways. So if you do career counseling with young people, especially young men, read this article and then use this information to expand job considerations for young people. (Not in this article but also true: many of the skilled trades (e.g., plumbing, electrical work) only require a one or two-year apprenticeship, they are expected to be in demand in the future, and also pay well.)
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On Her New Album, Taylor Swift Sings a Pro-Marriage Tune
In her earlier adult life Taylor Swift seemed to embody many of the feminist policies of the early 21st century. But in her most recent album she seems to be embracing the idea of marriage and having children as good things. There are many conservative (and especially Christian) women who have felt this way, but she is an important role model for many young women who don’t consider themselves as conservatives or Christians, and so hopefully the changes she is making will encourage other young women to reconsider these issues as well.
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5 Habits to Keep You Out of Divorce Court
This article, written by a managing partner in a family law firm that handles many divorces, gives practical advice about the problems that often lead couples to divorce, and gives 5 principles on how to build a marriage that reduces the chances of ending up in divorce court.
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Five Truths about Image vs. Character
Here’s an article about image versus character by Randy Alcorn that has some good insights for us personally and some that we might use in counseling, especially if we’re working with Christian clients.
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The Damaging Effects of Cannabis on the ADHD Brain
According to surveys about ½ of men with ADHD use cannabis on either a daily basis or on a semi-regular basis. Cannabis is shown to have a growing number of negative effects on all individuals who use it, but it is particularly harmful to individuals with ADHD who use it. Read article for more details about why.
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The Social Executive Function Skills That Elude Kids with ADHD
Because of the nature of ADHD, children with ADHD often have trouble making and keeping friends. Here is a very complete article that could be useful to counselors and parents in terms of learning to teach those skills to children, regardless of whether or not they have ADHD.
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Poor Persistence and Adherence to ADHD Medication Prescriptions in Children and Adolescents
David Rabiner has excellent summaries of some of the best treatment articles on ADHD. I’ve not found a way to locate his articles on-line, so I’m copying the link where I receive my own articles. I’m not sure if this will work. If it doesn’t, the upshot of this research is that most children and teens who are prescribed ADHD medication take it for ½ year or less. See the article from last week on the dangers of untreated ADHD.
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ADHD Is the Disorder That Never Sleeps
About 80% of people with ADHD tend to go to bed late, but school and work require them to get up early, meaning they get less than the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Chronic loss of sleep can cause several problems (see article). Fortunately the article also includes several very practical steps to help people shift their circadian rhythms so they can routinely get to sleep earlier and end up with adequate sleep.
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Little Evidence to Support Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Medicine for Autism
There are probably at least two dozen complementary, alternative or integrative medicine (CAIM) treatments for autism and though some may work for an occasional child with autism (e.g., oxytocin), there is little evidence that any of them work for the majority of children with autism.
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Four Biologically, Clinically Distinct Autism Subtypes Identified
In one of the most recent additions to the discussion of autism subtypes, the journal Nature Genetics identifies four biologically and clinically distinct autism subtypes. The article describes these more completely. One subtype I did not see was what we have called Asperger’s Disorder, a mild version of autism. If such individuals have other strengths (e.g., high mental ability) they may become gifted students. Another category I do not see listed is “profound autism” (see article below) a severe form of autism where a person needs 24-hour supervised care to protect from harming themselves. Hopefully in the DSM-6 (see two articles below) they will include these two categories.
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The Case for Splitting Up the Autism Spectrum
Following up on the recent articles on biologically-distinct subtypes of autism, this parent of a child with profound autism, who needs 24-hour supervision and care to keep her safe, but the family can’t qualify for the care she needs because there is not an explicit subtype for her kind of autism, illustrates why it is important that science and insurance policies start to recognize these differences.
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APA Unveils Early Plans for the Next DSM
The most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the DSM-5 Text Revision, was published in 2022. Initial plans are beginning for the next revision, tentatively aiming at a goal date of 4 years (2029 or 2030).
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Teens hack school cell phone bans with creative workarounds
More states are developing cell phone bans. And teens are reminding us that they’re more creative and can get around almost anything adults can devise. Their latest method is to use Google Docs as chatrooms to socialize, while to the observing teacher they appear to be hard at work on their laptops. This just serves to remind us of the importance of parents having good conversations with their children about balanced use of social media.
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The married-with-children party vs. the single-and-childless party
While not a counseling article, I think this research has implications for our counseling. Liberal women are much less likely to get married, not likely to have children, and if they do marry, less likely to have children. Conservative women are more likely to get married earlier, to have children and often would like to have more children. (The replacement rate for couples is 2.2 children per couple. Most conservative women have two or three children and frequently would like more. Many liberal women have no children.)
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An age-old fear grows more common: ‘I’m going to die alone’
Normally one cannot read Washington Post articles without a subscription, but this article appears to be an exception. It seems that with the greater alienation occurring within our society, one of the growing fears of elderly persons is that they will die with no one to care for them in their final days and moments.
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Anthropic Study: AI Models Are Highly Vulnerable to ‘Poisoning’ Attacks
An important study indicating we need to continue to be skeptical about AI answers to questions. It had been assumed that AI would not produce incorrect information unless it had been fed large amounts of misinformation during its training. However this research, conducted by a very respected AI group, found that feeding an AI model as few as 250 incorrect documents during its training could “poison” it’s results. This raises the possibility that “bad actors” could fairly easily cause AI models to give significantly incorrect information. So AI has tremendous potential for the future, but at present, one should still weigh everything you receive from AI.
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Will the Supreme Court Strike Down State Bans on 'Conversion Therapy'?
I try to present both sides of an issue where there is legitimate controversy, so I’m going to include this article from Medpage Today. Here is a quote from the article: “It may seem obvious that states can lawfully regulate, even proscribe, medical treatments that are ineffective, or even worse, harmful to patients. And yet, the Supreme Court appears poised to bar states from banning conversion therapy -- despite the clear scientific consensus that [such bans are (my clarification)] ineffective and [are] linked to harm, including youth suicide.” Whoever wrote these sentences should probably explain how nearly half a dozen of the European countries that previously encouraged sex change treatments are now encouraging children and teens to receive counseling before being considered for any sex change treatments.
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Why So Many Gen Z-ers Are Drawn to Conservative Christianity
It is interesting when a newspaper as liberal leaning as the New York Times runs an article with this title, but it does seem that the topic has become so evident that even secular sources recognize the trend as becoming newsworthy. This is from the Times, which you won’t be able to read without a subscription, but I’ll include a few quotes. The author is Roland Williams, who is an Associate Professor of History at Ashland University and has researched and written about religious life in America extensively. (Gen-Z are those who are between the ages of 13 and 28.)
Since I think this article may be of interest to many readers of this column I’m going to include several quotes from the article:
“About a third of Gen Z-ers are nonreligious. Thirty-eight percent never go to church — a mark of the rise of the Nones, or Americans with no religious affiliation.
“But predictions that the Christian right would be moribund with Gen Z-ers have proved false. In the aftermath of Covid — and amid the longing for purpose, community and transcendence that many Gen Z-ers feel — a sizable minority of them have found their answer in conservative Christianity, fueling both a religious and a political revival among these young Americans. They bring a new attitude to the combination of faith and politics, and many see politics as a matter of spiritual warfare.
“Many of these young Christians have turned to conservative politics — a near-seamless mix of Christian faith and the MAGA message. That mix was best demonstrated in speeches that wove political and religious themes at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk.
“Gen Z is clouded by despair. It’s not hard to imagine how young people traumatized by the isolation imposed by Covid and disillusioned by the perceived emptiness of secular liberalism might be drawn to a relationship with God and a purpose in life. Many were attracted by Mr. Kirk’s message of confidence and joyfulness in his conservative Christian faith.
“Some believe that they are in a spiritual war against “enemies” and that they can expect to be persecuted for their convictions from a hostile secular state or society.
“This belief is closely intertwined with the idea of spiritual warfare against demonic forces, which is especially popular in charismatic churches — that is, churches that encourage the use of miraculous gifts, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing.
“While the Christian right of the 1980s was largely led by Baptists, the Gen Z Christian right is much more likely to be charismatic. One study showed that approximately half of Gen Z and millennial churchgoers attended charismatic churches. (By contrast, only 24 percent of older respondents attended charismatic churches.)
“Young male churchgoers now outpace young female churchgoers in weekly attendance, and for the first time in modern American history, they are more religious than their female peers.
“Ultimately, for many Gen Z conservative Christian political activists, as with earlier generations, politics is a means to create a society that will not only protect the rights of conservative Christians to follow their conscience but also allow conservative Christian values to flourish. But in today’s political context, it is that last aim that has led at least some younger conservative Christians to question liberal democracy and religious pluralism altogether and to entertain the idea of a postliberal framework that might foster family-friendly values without allowing the sort of religious or ideological pluralism that might threaten those values.”
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The happiest, most successful employees have 6 things in common
A CEO who has interviewed 30,000 people said these are the six things they have in common.
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Church leaders warn UK gov’t its ‘conversion therapy’ ban would make the Gospel ‘illegal’
A law banning “conversion therapy” in Great Britain is somewhat different than the laws that are under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. While the law in Great Britain does still encourage transgender and sexual orientation issues, church leaders there in Great Britain say it goes further and would make any kind of pastoral counseling illegal. Since this is somewhat different from the controversies here in the United States, I thought it would be good to know the differences.
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Trump sparks concern among Christians for saying he's 'maybe not Heaven-bound'
Trump’s latest comments on Air Force One on the way back from Israel this week continue to spark concerns about his spiritual state. Jenny Korn, the Director of his White House Faith office, says she has known him for 10 years, has been in frequent prayer meetings with him, and is sure he has accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and Lord. While he doesn’t speak as a typical Sunday School teacher, she believes he may be expressing humility with his comments rather than uncertainty about his salvation.
FDA Approves Expanded Indication for UZEDY® (risperidone) Extended-Release Injectable Suspension as a Treatment for Adults Living with Bipolar I Disorder
Although counselors can’t prescribe medications, it is helpful to know of new medications that have been approved. This injection that is only needed once a month may be especially helpful to those clients who have difficulty remembering to take daily medications.
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How To Get Over An Addicting Habit
Here are 9 plausible steps that could help many people break unhealthy addicting habits. Depending on the addiction, one or more of these steps might need to be modified.
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I hope you’ve enjoyed these articles. Have a wonderful weekend!
Henry Virkler