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Physical Health
Elusive Shadows
For years Sarah lived under the shadow of her father, a man who drank frequently. She was often uneasy because of his unpredictable temper. She feared him, but when he called her aside to ask her about her plans after high school, she was ecstatic. Never before had he been thoughtful. “Pic... Read More
Breaking the Cycle of Abuse
*Breaking the Cycle of Abuse* Mary’s voice sounded very matter of fact when I picked up my voice mail message. She explained that her family was in the middle of a court case involving the sexual abuse of her two young sons. When I returned her call, she shared how devastated she was ov... Read More
Domestic Violence
*Domestic Violence* *Legal Issues, Treatments and Resources* Ned Stringham Fort Abuse is a very challenging topic for counselors and pastors, and indications of its occurrence within the family are especially disturbing. The thought of such an evil penetrating their refuge where safety... Read More
Protecting the Disabled Child
One of the greatest losses in the life of a parent is when he or she hears the words, “Your child is disabled.” The diagnosis of a child with a disability disrupts the everyday life and plans of the parents, often forever. I know. I can still see the neurologist’s office at U.C.L.A. and hear his ... Read More
Hype versus Hope: Adult Stem Cells Hold the Real Promise
In the stem cell debate there has been a lot of heat generated, but not much light. Many claims and promises have been made, but most people, the public and the policymakers alike, do not know the whole truth about stem cell research and its cousin, cloning. THERE ARE ACTUALLY MANY sources of ste... Read More
"Han" suffering so deep
It feels ironic that a "rah rah America" show, though with a critical twist, is the thing that triggered this reflection. In a recent episode of the "West Wing," a Korean artist was seeking asylum in the U.S. but he is refused. As the president is informing him of this fact, he stops playing ... Read More
Living with Cancer: A view from a transformed oncologist
This morning started with an extra large drain on my battery. Clarence needed even more of my time than usual. Once again he asked, “When am I going to start feeling better?” Clarence has late-stage prostate cancer and is now in his 80s. For 12 years, nearly everything we have used to fight his d... Read More
Sexual Trafficking: The 21st Century Slavery Helping the Least of These
Slavery is still with us even in the 21st century. Although we tend to think of slavery as occurring in distant places, such as the Sudan, trafficking in human beings exists today right here in America, perhaps in your town or city. Each year, between 600,000 and 800,000 people are traffi... Read More
The Body/Mind/Spirit Connection: Is Spirituality Always a Good Thing?
This edition of Christian Counseling Today reaches deep into the “Body, Mind and Spirit” connection and helps us to understand the intricate connection between these three dimensions of our lives. Making sense of how these three are connected has never been more challenging on the one hand, and m... Read More
Migraines and the Biology of Joy: It requires a healthy biological system to fully experience the joy that comes from God
The presence of God is joy. Great writers, poets and artists have come short of expressing this joy in their greatest works. A.W. Tozer wrote, “The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world...” 1 So how does a neurologist dare try to explain joy? We use it everyday and never giv... Read More
Healing the Hardware of the Soul: Nine Principals of the Amen Clinic
Like the hardware of a computer, the brain must function at an optimal level in order for us to run the software programs of life (learning how to function in child rearing, education, going through adolescence, training for a career, marriage, navigating mid-life crises, for instance). When the ... Read More
5 Things you must do to protect your kids from school violence
School should be a safe place of learning from teachers instead of a scary place where shootings and violence bring emergency workers and grief counselors. The recent number of horrifying acts of violence in schools has everyone concerned, from the President to local school and law enforcement of... Read More
Abusers and True Repentance
As a psychologist and seminary professor, I frequently entertain questions about the timeline for forgiveness and reconciliation in situations of domestic or familial sexual abuse. Most frequently, church leaders want to know when it is appropriate to encourage a victim of abuse to allow an offen... Read More
Definition and Key Thoughts of Eating Disorders
*Definitions and Key Thoughts* * Persons with eating disorders are characterized by a primary obsession with food (either eating a lot or not eating enough) and compulsive behaviors related to eating. Often these behaviors are attempts to gain control and deal with anxiety and stress. * C... Read More
Body Image Blues: Understanding the psychological factors that fuel personal insecurities
Have you ever wondered why some people never seem happy with themselves, or are constantly comparing themselves to others to see if they measure up? I sure have and to be honest, I've been in situations where I did it too! Depending on the situation, we all can feel a little insecure at times, so... Read More
Making Peace With Your Thighs: Why Is It That So Many of Us Dislike Our Bodies?
*Body Dissatisfaction* In today’s world, body acceptance is no easy feat. Body dissatisfaction is so common that it is now considered normal. The promise of fulfillment through reaching the ideal body is one of the biggest lies of our day, yet believed by so many of us. Driven ... Read More
Understanding and Treating Self-Injurious Behavior In Eating Disorders
Although psychiatry first recognized self-injurious behavior (SIB) in the 1800s, it has warranted most professional attention in the last decade. Thus, there is a need to increase awareness of SIB’s functions and effective treatment strategies. Although this article addresses SIB in the context o... Read More
LERN: Women in Iraq Free or Under the Veil of Islamic Abuse?
Recent voting for the permanent Iraqi constitution was remarkable for the image of so many veiled Iraqi women coming out to vote in the face of fierce threats of death. However, the current draft constitution cannot miss the attempts by the majority Shiite parties to impose an Islamic religio-leg... Read More
HIV/Aids Now a Global Women's Disease
Just two decades ago, the world first learned of a new disease affecting homosexuals in major cities across the United States. In 1985, Rock Hudson, an actor and the epitome of a leading man, announced that he had AIDS and died from the disease shortly thereafter. In his death, Rock Hudson became... Read More
Self-Injury
Through my work with those who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, I have come across an issue that has only recently been discussed publicly—self-injury. It is an area full of shame for those who struggle with it, and as a result, it has been kept well hidden. In recent months, I ha... Read More
Tom Cruise as Mental Health Guru
I have always struggled with the delicate treatment dance involving medication… especially involving kids. But you don’t have to work with patients very long to realize that some need medication and lots of it (smile), that others are under-medicated or over-medicated, and that some need to get o... Read More
Are Psychiatric Drugs Safe?
I formerly had patients who wanted their medications added to the water supply. Now, they are afraid of the water. Congressional hearings, recent studies, and recent celebrity rants (see Tim’s article at the end of this issue) have patients generally worried about the safety of all medications. T... Read More
Recognizing Adult ADHD
ADHD is estimated to affect threenine percent of children worldwide. Approximately 50% of these children will have symptoms that persist into adult life. Thus nearly eight million Americans (4.5%) may have ADHD. The original research on this question underestimated the impact of ADHD on g... Read More
The Real Miracle Cell: A look at adult stem cells
MY BACK WAS SORE, MY NECK was aching, and I was glad to be out of my wheelchair. My bed felt good, even if I couldn’t “feel” most of my body. After 37 years of quadriplegia, the vertebrae in my neck are beginning to deteriorate resulting in ever-increasing levels of pain. So on this particular ni... Read More
Research Digest: Medical and Emotional Intersection
*Outcomes of Heart Surgery* Contrada, R., Goyal, T. M., Cather, C., Rafalson, L., Idler, E. L., & Krause, T. J. (2004). Psychosocial factors in outcomes of heart surgery: The impact of religious involvement and depressive symptoms, Health Psychology, 23 (3), 227-238. Richard Contrada an... Read More
Separating the Hype from the Facts On Dietary Supplements: Top 10 things every counselor needs to know
Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge (Proverbs 23:12). As a scientist/dietitian in the dietary supplement industry, I formulate products, write structure/function claims, and substantiate claims with journal article research. Many physicians, pharmacists and therapi... Read More
Breaking from Reality: Responding to acute psychotic episodes
The concept of a “nervous breakdown” is not new to most people. It can represent a range of mental illnesses or give the impression that someone ”snapped” as the result of extreme pressure or stress. Research has shown that as many as one third of all Americans have felt on the verge of a nervous... Read More
Menopause and PMDD: Update and new approaches
Menopausal women can add whiplash to the laundry list of medical issues they face at midlife. The medical profession has done an about-face in their recommendations for hormone replacement therapy (HRT). For women “of a certain age,” doctors have rapidly gone from insisting on hormone rep... Read More
Mending a Broken Heart: With or Without Cardiogenesis, Living Well with Heart Disease is Spiritually Possible
Dmitri Bonnville was just 16 years old in February 2003 when he suffered a horrible accident—he was shot in the heart by a nail gun at a construction site. After surgeons removed the nail at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oaks, Michigan, the boy suffered a massive heart attack that destroyed over a t... Read More
Lessons Learned at Duke's Center for Spirituality Theology and Health
THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY of Religion/ Spirituality and Health was established in 1997 at Duke University Medical Center in order to conduct research to better understand the relationship between religion, spirituality, mental health, medical outcomes, and clinical practice. Over the last seven ye... Read More
Living Well in a Fallen World: Surviving in a world full of death and disease,consequences of sin.
Utopian visionaries, of course, dream of immortality, and an entire industry has arisen that cryogenically freezes the dead in the hopes of being thawed at some unknown future day when medicine has conquered disease and aging. Utopian is the key qualifier to this dream. To be sure,we Christians d... Read More
Shrink Notes: Atypical Neuroleptics
Antipsychotic drugs have historically been used to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic states. They are subdivided into conventional/typical antipsychotics such as Prolixin, Trilafon, Mellaril, Thorazine, Stelazine and Navane, and atypical antipsychotics. They are called atypical “neuroleptic... Read More
Medications and Children: What Counselors Need to Know
CHILDREN AND DRUGS. Can you think of a more sobering topic? It is often a challenge to work with children who are experiencing significant emotional or behavioral turmoil. During the course of treatment it may be necessary to refer them for psychopharmacological evaluation and therapy. Sure we ha... Read More
Psychiatric Manifestations of Medical Illness: Shrink Notes
Most mental health clinicians are trained to recognize the psychological variables that may underlie symptoms such as depression, anxiety or psychosis. However, training is usually lacking in recognizing the potential contributions of medical disorders to these symptoms. This is disturbing, as ne... Read More
New Medications: A look into what is Now Available
All medications are similar to the space shuttle. There is an active ingredient that is akin to the shuttle. There is a delivery system that delivers the active ingredient to its desired site, like a rocket booster delivering the shuttle into orbit. A variety of new drugs are entering the market ... Read More
Shrink Notes: The One Pound a Month Club
Newer generation antidepressants have shown effectiveness in a variety of disease states including depression, anxiety disorders, and bulimia. However, many of these disease states are characterized by chronicity—thus leading many patients to need longer term treatment. Side effect profiles of th... Read More
The Invisible Client: Working with Deaf clients
Journey with me into the life of an invisible client. Imagine living in a world where other people don’t see you. You are invisible to the majority population. Your home is broken into, your child is sick, you were laid off, your family goes on a vacation...but no one asks your input. A family me... Read More
Fish Oil After Heart Attacks is Big in Europe, but Not U.S.A.
Nearly very patient in the cardiac care unit at most Italian hospitals who survives a heart attack goes home with a prescription for purified fish oil, or omega-3 fatty acids. “It is clearly recommended in international guidelines,” said Dr. Massimo Santini, the hospital’s chief of cardiolog... Read More