Counseling News from the Week of March 6, 2026

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

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"

Mister Rogers

“What if the mightiest word is love.”

​Elizabeth Alexander

“The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.”

Julia Alvarez

"There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing how’s and whys about things."

Alexander Graham Bell

“At any moment, man must decide, for better or for worse, what will be the monument of his existence.”

Viktor Frankl, "Man's Search for Meaning"

“I would tell my younger self, just be yourself — that who you are is good enough.”

Viola Davis

Frances Perkins

"Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it."

Gabriel García Márquez, from "Living to Tell the Tale"

“If you don’t know to which port you’re sailing, no wind is favorable.”

Seneca the Younger

Fascinating Facts (nothing in this section this week)

Counseling Articles

Hackers and the Future of Iran

Normally I don’t commend the work of hackers, but this week I’m going to make an exception. Hackers infiltrated Iranian state TV and allowed President Trump to speak directly to the Iranian people, encouraging them to rise up and take control of their country.

Even though there have been believers in Iran since biblical times (see the book of Daniel), and there is a growing and prospering underground church, they have been vigorously prosecuted by the Ayatollah. There are now plans to elect a new Ayatollah, who probably would continue his repressive policies. But the former crown prince (now in hiding) has a thoughtful 6-month and 2-year plan for helping the country transform into a modern democracy. As you think of it, please pray that God would enable the people to move toward a healthier form of self-government.

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'Spiral of violence' in Iran threatens 'already fragile' Christian minority, charity warns

Further information to inform your prayers.

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The Spiritual State of Our Union in 2026

This article describes how our country has gone through several periods of spiritual decline and then several periods when there has been spiritual renewal. The author obviously encourages the latter.

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How Gender Ideology Infiltrated Medicine | Dr. Quentin Van Meter | Ep. 156

Here is a 30-minute video of an interview with Dr. Quentin Van Meter where he talks about how gender medicine infiltrated, and until very recently, had taken over most of the medical professional associations. Dr. Van Meter identifies several of the major players who were part of the gender transition process. Just in the last few years and weeks has been a significant change by several European countries, the American Academy of Plastic Surgery and now the American Medical Association.

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‘Gentle parenting’ is a delusion — and now there’s proof

For several years the theory of “gentle parenting” (not setting rules or bedtimes for children, but allowing them to choose such things for themselves), was advocated by a small group of parent advocates. The results are now in, and its not really good for those who advocated such methods.

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Hard Parenting, Better Relationships: New Evidence

Here is a summary of several research studies on what causes some parents to think parenting is hard or very hard, and what causes some parents to think it is not so hard. It also includes some research on at what ages parenting is viewed as hardest and easier by mothers as well as fathers. The article also includes other interesting insights, including at least one counterintuitive one.

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When It Comes to Screen Time, Expert Guidance and Family Realities Diverge

Most child experts suggest that children younger than two have no screen time, but families do not seem to be following that advice.

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Don’t Be Like Dagny: Confessions of an Unlikely Wife and Mother

This author was a teen when she read Atlas Shrugged, and for many years she embraced Dagny Taggert as her role model. As a young adult she was an ardent feminist, thinking that marriage and commitments were a form of slavery. But over the years her attitudes changed and she is now a happily married wife and mother of two children. This is the story of her journey.

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Red States Are Gaining Babies in the Post-COVID Shuffle

This article looks at some interesting trends—the states that are losing population as well as those that are gaining population, and at some of the factors that may be shaping those changes. It also includes some suggestions for states to maintain or develop programs that make it more affordable for couples to have children.

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Life in the Third Oikos: An Interview with Wilson Cusack

An interesting interview with a man who did not intend to have a large family, but who now finds that his children provide some of the greatest joys in his life.

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Why Our Best Ideas Come When We’re Half-Asleep

I didn’t know if this was something that only happened to me, but apparently this is true for many people: some of our most creative ideas come in that period between sleep and wakefulness.

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9 Movies About Real People Living with Bipolar

This article identifies 9 people who have achieved greatness in a wide variety of fields—abstract art, motorcycle racing, professional baseball, painting, a movie star, professional chess player and poet.

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Rapid Fire – Part 4

In this response Greg Koukl gives responses to eight objections that people sometimes use for rejecting Christianity. Worthwhile reading in case you might have a client who brings up one or more of them.

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What Happens When Games Replace Reality

A fascinating article explaining the psychology of how games draw people in and how they may seem attractive to people who have just experienced a traumatic situation or who are struggling to have healthy relationships in the real world.

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Teen Cannabis Use Tied to Increase in Serious Mental Illness

Further research suggesting that teen cannabis use, even if it is not daily and not heavy, still leads to an increase in serious mental illness. This is a a large (500,000 teens) well-done study, so I think it suggests that teens would be best not to use any marijuana.

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Don’t Call It a Wedding. It’s a Domestic Partnership Party.

You won’t be able to read this unless you have a subscription to the New York Times, so I’ll summarize its major points. This new trend is being used by a small group of adults who often have lived together for some time, who believe they have a long-term stable relationship and wish to celebrate this with their friends. There is no “walking down" the aisle, and typically cupcakes are served rather than a cake. There may be a DJ and dancing and an opportunity to celebrate the couple’s domestic partnership. Only California legally recognizes domestic partnerships legally, so most domestic partners in other states do not enjoy some of the rights of marital couples.

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Love and Grief

Those of you who have enjoyed the many books written by C.S. Lewis may not have read his book A Grief Observed that describes his grief after his wife of three years, Joy Davidson, passed away from cancer. This brief article describes the interesting changes that occurred in both of their lives before they met (he lived a totally intellectual life before he met Joy, who opened up his emotional side), and she was a former atheist before she became a Christian, the two met and fell in love, and eventually married). This book was initially published under a pseudonym, because the intensity of Lewis’s grief was so raw, but he eventually allowed his name to be included as the author.

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Can Stem Cell Therapy Really Regenerate Damaged Organs?

Doctors can now use stem cells to regenerate damaged organs, and research is pointing to the likelihood that they can do even more in the near future. It is possible that you or your children’s lives could be improved or even lengthened by some of these new therapies.

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DSM-6 Updates

In a series of 6 essays, psychiatrists talked about the next DSM. Usually the APA puts out a new version every 15 years, so that would put 2018 as a target year, but no publication date has been set at this time. The descriptive changes mentioned in the articles weren’t very informative, so there’s nothing significant to report.

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Maintaining Friendships While Managing Bipolar Disorder

A worthwhile article for people (not just those with bipolar), that includes ideas such as the importance of everyone having at least a few good friends to help oneself maintain emotional stability, that not all friends are healthy ones for one’s mental health, and that it’s important to have good boundaries.

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New brain stimulation method may treat depression within five days

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may work within five days for clients who have suffered from treatment resistant depression, especially those who have been unresponsive to treatments with traditional antidepressants. Although some clients showed responses within five days, some did not show immediate improvement but within six weeks had significantly improved. So we now have another treatment for depression for those who do not respond to standard treatments.

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Caution about the Safety of the COVID-19 Vaccine

Normally I don’t carry articles about physical medicine issues in this newsletter, but this is one that may be relevant to every person and family, and since it is based on two research studies that included 184 million people, it is probably important to know about.

Although many vaccines may be safe and are important (e.g. the measles vaccine) this large study of the COVID-19 vaccine (184 million people) recommends that it is not safe.

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Women gasp, men yawn and laugh at landmark L.A. social media addiction trial

This lawsuit in California as likely to be the first of many hundreds, where parents or young people are suing software programs like Instagram and YouTube of ensnaring young people and causing them harm. Boys have been seduced into sending nude pictures and then becoming victims of sextortion, but young women (which is the focus of this trial) have been primarily seduced by issues about their physical attractiveness. Parents are viewing the results of this trial to make decisions about whether to pursue their own cases.

In reflection on what is happening here, it seems to me there are multiple opportunities for counselors who work with young people to talk with them about their media use and help them modify it if necessary, but also for counselors and parents and churches, to help young people nurture a self-concept based on God’s view of their self-worth and attractiveness based on who they are inside.

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The Science Behind Pornography

This 11-minute video from Makai Albert is definitely worth watching. About 70% of men and 40% of women at least occasionally watch pornography. This study looked at people who viewed pornography regularly (often daily, and sometimes for one to five hours per day), and found their brain scans became very similar to those who abused opioids. Chronic porn viewers became less sensitive to things around them, less sensitive when people were being abused, less able to think clearly about situations, and wanted more and more extreme exposure to pornographic material (these findings were for those who were chronic users of pornography). The good news is that the brain is plastic and can change. Therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment therapy had a high success rate of helping people overcome their frequent consumption of porn.

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(The research study was done on college students and was published in Frontiers in Human \Neuroscience, April 16, 2025.)

Have a good week (and don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night)!

Henry Virkler