Life is Prismatic: August 2010

Depression in Children

While it is painful to see any child suffer, we can’t deny the fact that depression is an illness that can also strike children.

Although its extent is unknown, most specialists believe that childhood depression can be as severe as the adult form. Recognizing depression in pre-adolescent children can be difficult. However, any significant, persistent change in a child’s normal behavior can signal the possibility of depression.

Symbolisms of Significant Trees in The Bible

Fig tree silhouetted at African dawn, Kenya, Africa

Throughout the Bible, up to the last chapter of Revelation, trees are seen as important to mankind. Many varieties of trees are cited in the Bible. The cedar became a temple, the fig, a covering, and the gopher an ark. A tree was connected with man’s sin. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:1-7). Another tree played a key role in the price of man’s sin. At Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ died by crucifixion upon a tree.

Parental Neglect: The Passive Abuse

black and white view of a young girl (6-7) sitting in a corner covering her face with her hands

In an issue of Psychology Today, educator Avis Brenner identifies a form of child abuse affecting an estimated million and a half American children – parental neglect. In contrast to the strong love/ hate emotions physically abusive parents feel toward their children, neglectful parents indicate little feeling for them. They simply don’t care.

Words That Heal

There is such a thing as verbal medicine. Encouraging words while you’re under the knife may mean faster recovery from surgery, with fewer complications, according to the doctors at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Hospitals, London.

Entering Prison for a Greater Cause

The observation that penal institutions unwittingly reinforce the deviant tendencies of inmates has been repeatedly made by criminologists. How can the cycle be broken?

Why do so many criminals repeat their offenses? In a landmark study conducted by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, the conclusion emerged that about three fourths of those entering jail have been there before. The younger the person at the time of the first offense, the higher the rate of return to jail and the sooner it occurs.

Dyslexics: Coping with Their Learning Difficulties

One out of every five children is possibly affected by dyslexia, making it one of the most widespread of the learning disabilities. In the USA alone, 10 million children are dyslexic. Many children are suffering, yet still more remain undiagnosed and unable to receive the needed support to overcome this condition.

This intrigued many scientists who had been studying the disorder for years. They finally realized that those who have the disorder could actually possess above average to exceptional intelligence.

See What Gratitude Can Do for You

A friend once told me, “Life is too important to be easy.” You can’t maintain a constant state of happiness—nobody can. But the harder you work at gratitude and the sooner you dissolve the “if onlys,” the better you’ll feel. There’s no limit to how high you can soar in joy, once you’ve unclipped your wings.

Superstitions in Our Midst

Most people are superstitious than they care to admit. Hardly a human exists that doesn’t harbor a few apprehensions – consciously or subconsciously – about black cats, broken mirrors, spilled salt, or the number thirteen.

But which one of us hasn’t at one time or another wished on a birthday cake candle, pulled on a wishbone for good luck, tossed a coin into a wishing well, knocked on wood, crossed our fingers for good luck (or when we told a lie), shunned opening an umbrella in a house (lest bad luck rain on us), felt happy at finding a four-leaf clover, or said, “Gesunheit” or “God bless you” to someone who sneezed?