Goodnight Vietnam

[exegete77]

This is the one I mentioned above.

Depression—Seeking Help

Here are some of the more important ones to get a context (our struggles with our son over the past 36 years, and that he has been missing at times up to ten years.

Too close, Too Hurtful, Too Important

Prayer—”But not that!”

The ugliness of the missing

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Depression—a pleasant surprise
(This one has links to several other posts)

God hears, remembers, knows

Ministry in the trenches

And my latest from early this morning:

Depression, humor, truth


Thanks for your interest.

[nom]

Thanks exegete, I read all of the posts and even watched the YouTube videos.

One of the things that struck me, long before I retrained in psychology, was how alone people feel with their struggles with any condition that affects their mental health. That, and the moral judgement that they fear (sometimes legitimately, more often not) will follow. Which, of course, compounds the struggle. I experienced it and I see it in my clients now.

However, I also see how common it truly is. Not just in my clients (as a psychologist, I have a biased sample) but because I also know the population statistics. Fully one half of the population will experience at least one episode of a diagnosable mental health condition. One half! So we all know people who have struggled, or are still struggling, to maintain their mental health and sometimes doing so against extraordinary pressures. And with almost all of those people, we will not know of their struggle - it is their guilty secret.

So I applaud you: generously and loudly.
Show your wounds to the world, and let the world see how accepting help, through therapy and faith, has helped. Give hope to those who cannot find it on their own.

Let us all remind the potential Robin Williams of the world that there is hope, they are not alone, people do care and that, despite the pain, things do get better.