Posted by Kingfish on July 30, 2001, at 19:28:51
In reply to Possible trouble with a friend., posted by Glenn Fagelson on July 29, 2001, at 22:57:34
Glenn:
This phrase caught my eye:
"had to spend a whole hour with me just to get
me out of denial"because it was something I struggled with for a decade +. I went from Dr. to Dr. trying to find a physical cause for my depression and mania, and there just was none. I could not believe it could be mental, and that mental illness could be biological in nature. I could not let myself see its prevalence in my family because they were not open to it.
My family is very religious - I am not now. There seem to be two approaches from Evangelicals at least, and I think Christianity in general - one is very loving and supportive, the way I would think Jesus was. The other is very judgemental and harsh. I studied the Bible extensively as a child, and am convinced Christ would not want us to suffer. He would have wanted us to be happy, and if taking medication to correct a problem in our brains is a necessary part of that, so be it. I read a post once on Beliefnet by an Evangelical woman who was haunted by depression and her church told her it was sinful to take AD's. She found a Christian clinic and started Prozac, and her life was turned around. She liked to think of it as a gift from God.
Anyway, all this rambling comes to a point. Because I gave in finally and decided to look at my manic depression from a different prespective, to stop denying that there was something wrong, and that I couldn't cure it by myself, or with antibiotics, I found a great relief. I gently opened the discussion with my family and found a very nice response, even though they are, again, still very religious.
I feel firmly now that depression is an imbalance of some sort, though it's not quite clear yet. The meds give us a chance to be strong and healthy and that is what Christ, or Buddha, or we ourselves would and should want from this life.
- K.
P.S. Sorry, I ended up using this as a confessional, didn't I?;)
poster:Kingfish
thread:8334
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010726/msgs/8401.html