Counseling News from the Week of November 28,2025
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
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
Thomas Edison
Man will only become better when you make him see what he is like.”
Anton Chekhov
"The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
Jack London
“Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.”
Victor Hugo, "Les Misérables"
"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."
Wayne Gretzky
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
Winston Churchill
"At every moment, we always have a choice, even if it feels as if we don’t. Sometimes that choice may simply be to think a more positive thought."
Tina Turner
“Think before you speak. Read before you think.”
FRAN LEBOWITZ
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more.”
MELODY BEATTIE
Fascinating Facts
Another Breach at the White House
There has been another unexpected breach at the White House, but this breach didn’t pose any dangerous threat. A tiny toddler escaped his parent’s grasp and was able to wiggle through the fence surrounding the White House. Some Secret Service guards gently returned the youngster to his probably mortified, but relieved parents.
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Student Dies of Caffeine Overdose Waiting for Ambulance
A student in Australia received a shipment of caffeine pills and took several. After starting to feel ill, she called emergency services, but apparently the call was considered a non-emergency situation, and through a series of mistakes, she did not receive care until 7 hours later and died as a result. I include this story to just highlight the fact that even caffeine can be fatal in too high dosages, especially if medical care is delayed.
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Why Don't We Ride Zebras?
Since many people ride horses, some have wondered why no one rides zebras, since they seem to have similar body builds to horses. It isn’t because there have been no attempts to do so. But apparently zebras have resisted all attempts to domesticate them, and so eventually humans have given up their attempts to do so.
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World’s Strongest Woman winner stripped of title after organizers discovered she was born a man
Although not a counseling-related article, this news article has gained national attention. This person, Jammie Booker, who had been thought to be the world’s strongest woman, was found to have been born a man. The discovery was initiated when it was found that Booker had participated in porn videos posted on-line.
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Counseling Articles
The Other Side of Marriage
If you are a pastor, are married or if you counsel premarital couples, I think this article is incredibly important. Please read it and consider saving it to your computer. Many people enter marriage with unrealistic expectations of continual marital bliss. We overvalue uncomplicated romantic bliss, individuality, control, choice, and comfort—all things that an intimate, committed relationship is likely to disrupt. This is the process this author, a psychiatrist who works with couples, calls “learning to love.” Some couples, who married after falling in love, never go this second step and learn to create a shared vision with their partner. This is a process which I believe pastors, counselors and Sunday School teachers can encourage young people and couples to learn about and apply to their marriages.
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“Furry” Fetish Linked to Trump Assassination Attempt
We may have heard about “furries” but probably most of us know little about them. But Thomas Crooks, who attempted to assassinate President Trump and who killed one other person and seriously wounded two others, was involved in this movement. And Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was also associated with this movement. This article, from Intercessors of America, explains the movement more comprehensively than any place I have seen. To be informed about the movements taking place in American culture today, I encourage you to read it.
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Violence Against Christians in Nigeria
This is not a counseling article, but because this has been brought to the world’s attention in the last several weeks, I think it’s helpful to learn more about it. This article is from the New York Times so you won’t be able to read it without a subscription. Because it’s so informative, I’ll summarize some of its major points.
The violence, kidnapping and murder in this populous country (230 million people who speak 300 languages) is widespread. It is caused by multiple issues.
- 1. There is considerable violence, terror attacks, and kidnapping, not just against Christians, but also against Muslims, by Jihadist groups.
- 2. Jihadist groups allegedly also support some groups of bandits.
- 3. In central parts of Nigeria there are frequent clashes between farmers and herders battling over scarce resources. And now there are also reports of influential people attempting to grab land.
- 4. In the Southeast there are several secessionist groups who are trying to break away from Nigeria.
So the violence in Nigeria is caused by each of these factors. The situation is complicated because violence in Nigeria is rarely prosecuted.
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5 Tips for Being a Good Host–The Art and Science of Making People Feel at Home
I know you’ll be receiving this after Thanksgiving, but there’s some good tips that you could also use if you host parties at any time during the year including the Christmas season.
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Dementia Risk Intertwined with Exercise at Two Life Stages
Being physically active during midlife was associated with a 40% decrease in risk of dementia. Late life physical activity as also associated with diminished risk.
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Full-time Work is Increasing Among Married Moms
This recent study found that married moms are increasingly working full-time jobs, even though they would prefer to work fewer hours so they could spend more time with their children. Financial pressures seem to be a major factor in deciding to work full-time.
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The EdTech Enmeshment Problem—and How to Fix It
This article describes how educational technology, available in almost every school in America, may be handicapping the learning process for students and suggests some ways to combat it.
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The Mystery of Intuition
We’ve all had the experience of having intuitive thoughts. This article discusses where intuition comes from perhaps more comprehensively than anything else I have read on the subject.
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10 Ways to Use Gratitude to Help with Bipolar Disorder Symptoms
An excellent article by Tanya Hvilivitsky, a blogger who has bipolar disorder herself, of 10 ways to use gratitude to help with bipolar disorder symptoms. But these 10 ways could be of help almost anyone to improve their sense of gratitude.
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Why Are Young Women Rejecting Marriage? The Reason Matters
If you work with young men and especially young women either as a counselor or as a Sunday School teacher, I think this is worthwhile reading. The author, a woman herself, states that for much of her early adult life she did not view marriage and children as a priority, as she now does. She also notes that among the recent poll of 12th graders, about which much discussion has occurred, the increase in young women who didn’t affirm marriage as a priority was among “the undecideds,” who are not saying they will never consider marriage and children, but that at this point in their lives, they are undecided about this issue. It very well may be that as they mature, they, like Taylor Swift and like the author of this article, will realize that marriage and children is something they want to embrace. She also encourages young men, if they want to be attractive to women, to work on becoming the best quality men that they can become.
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New Survey: What Doctors Really Think About Trans Treatment for Minors
While some of the major professional medical associations, such as the American Medical Association, the American Association of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, approve of “gender-affirming care” (e.g., puberty-suppressing hormones, cross-gender hormones, and sex-change surgery) which some assert should not be considered “care,” the majority of physicians in Florida do not support such treatments, and instead recommend supportive counseling to help children and teens to work through gender confusion issues.
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My Journey From Bipolar Psychosis to Stability
This person, like many with bipolar disorder, disliked one result of her medication (in her case it was weight gain) so she discontinued it against the advice of doctors and family. She eventually became manic and needed to be hospitalized. She recounts the factors that helped her recover and the things she discovered she needs to stay healthy.
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How AI Will Impact Therapists
Probably many of us have reservations about the use of AI by therapists. Here is an article about tools that can help with the tasks surrounding therapy that probably most of us would agree would be helpful adjuncts to the counseling process for counselors to use. The author also includes suggestions for how therapists can develop plans to demonstrate how they as human therapists can be significantly more helpful than AI chatbots when someone is struggling with emotional issues.
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How to Talk to Clients About Raising Your Fees
Considering talking to clients about raising your fees is never easy, but in an economy where everything is becoming more expensive it is sometimes necessary. This author gives some good suggestions about how to set prices and how to inform clients of this. Her article also includes a helpful checklist of things to consider.
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How To Practice Gratitude (Even When You Don’t Feel It)
Many of us do not have trouble feeling grateful for the many good relationships and other things in our lives. This author talks about how to show gratitude even for the person who may not be feeling it at the moment.
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Creating a Thankful Home
One of the challenges of modern parenting is helping teens to be thankful. Mark Gregston has some practical suggestions for how parents can do this. Although Thanksgiving will be over before you get this, helping teens develop a spirit of thankfulness can be a year-round practice.
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Jonathan Haidt: The Devil’s Plan to Ruin the Next Generation
This social psychologist asked ChatGPT how to destroy the next generation of youth. Although most of us have some skepticism about the answers ChatGPT gives, the answer it gave to this question was chilling. Although you can only read the first three paragraphs of the article without a subscription, those first three paragraphs are worth reading.
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What Makes a Life Fulfilling? Pursuing Goals Important to You, Not Others.
I think this article makes some good points about how to develop a fulfilling life (and some mistakes that prevent people from developing a fulfilling life for themselves). Although it is written for people with ADHD, I think the principles apply to anyone who is asking the question of how to develop a fulfilling life (or the question of why their life is not fulfilling).
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Human brains have 5 distinct 'epochs' in a lifetime, study finds
In this interesting study, which appeared on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, scientists combining results from several previous studies, concluded that the human brain goes through five distinct epochs during the lifespan. It’s quite interesting and makes sense to those of us who have gone through all five epochs.
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How to Enjoy Holiday Meals Without Feeling Stuffed
I ran across this article on Thursday before our Thanksgiving meal and thought it was so good I read it twice and saved it to my computer. You’ll probably be reading this after Thanksgiving, but I think it has some good advice for everyday and to be able to use at Christmas. I used it during my Thanksgiving meal and found I enjoyed the meal even more!
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I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving day!
Henry Virkler