Posted by holymama on June 9, 2004, at 12:25:37
In reply to welcome home holymama, posted by Jai Narayan on June 7, 2004, at 20:56:25
Thank you, and I am glad that there are some people who understand. Mental illness, and the process of recovery from a 'nervous breakdown', whatever that means, is a hard thing to navigate your way through when there are no maps. Noone talks about it, doctors don't know what to say about it. In that way I feel as though I am living in a not so civilized past.
I believe that everyones' story needs to be told, that each persons' experience of life is of equal importance. To write off the experience of breaking down and of all that means would be a great mistake, I believe.
My friend, an anthropologist and professor of womens' studies, has a book for me to read. I can't remember the name of it and from what she said, it is not a well known book, just one she thinks I need to read. It's a book written about the future, and in this vision of the future, people who 'break down' are honored. They are said to be extrememly sensitive souls who need to take a break now and then from the world that is so overwhelming to their sensitive systems. I think there is some truth to that. I feel the person I am now, after a few nervous breakdowns, is someone much wiser and sensitive, more compassionate and aware than the person I was before, and much more so than the average person.
poster:holymama
thread:349392
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20040320/msgs/355118.html