Posted by Declan on August 20, 2005, at 14:49:39
In reply to Re: Hey folks, it's not just the MEDS, posted by Empathy on August 20, 2005, at 14:25:59
When my mother was depressed she was in a terrible state, 9 months in a psychhospital, drugs, ECT maybe 10 times, agitated depression.
The thing was that she saw her problems (for want of better word!) in an exclusively moral light. And everyone dealing with her went to great efforts to treat the depression as an illness. So there was this disjunction.
I really felt she needed someone to talk to seriously about what she should and should not feel guilty for. She couldn't have done therapy though. And her doctors were not equipped to talk about moral failings. (They *had* moral failings, all too clear to me....like coming late to see her and having her called out from a meal for an appointment with no explanation or apology).
This experience made me think that the question of fault and blame is not easy to resolve. Anyway what I tried to do was talk about the moral side of things with her, which was easy because it was what she brought up. I think on Good Friday she said to me that whatever wickedness she had done in her life she had been punished for and that we had all suffered enough. All very intense.This is just a fragmentary reflection on the mind/brain, moral/chemical imbalance thing that crops up from time to time.
Declan
poster:Declan
thread:544171
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050816/msgs/544411.html