I have been thinking of what to write on this blog. My creativity seems to have become sadly impaired in the years on medication, so I’ve been having some difficulty deciding what to write. I may expand a little, moving from specifically “Christianity+mental health” to more generally “mental health” and some general “Christian” posts. However on the specific theme, I have some things I would like to write about, but need some research, planning and thought put into them before I can do them justice, I think. These are:
- Self Injury: Sin or Not?
- Jesus of the Scars: The Impaired God
- Self Injurers as imitations of Christ
- Physical wholeness in Deuteronomy and beyond
- Piercing in the OT
- ANE self-injury
- The Gerasene Demoniac, assorted interpretations
These, as you can see, are self injury related. I self injured on and off from the age of 14, with a rise in intensity at the time of my diagnosis with bipolar. I have since self harmed on numerous occasions, always when acutely depressed, and at the current time have not self harmed for a long time (I can’t remember the last time). I have read about SI for years, with the idea of reading/writing something on the lines of body theology about self harm, there are a few bits and pieces of material available to run with that I thought interesting. However I have a couple of problems in that a) if I read and think extensively about self harm I am more likely to trigger myself into doing it and b) I have an unfortunate tendency to reset to pro-SI if I am not watching myself. I have been told that I don’t treat SI seriously enough because I view it simply as a maladaptive coping mechanism when I am depressed that does not trouble me when I am well. As such it does not leave me in paroxysms of shame, and I do not consider it a sin. It is something I would, however, like to write about.
Other things I would like to write about include:
- Pets (cats!) as medicine, because I love my Fluffy dearly and she has helped me a great deal
- Workplace experiences, good and bad (I have had both)
- “Coming out” as mentally ill in church and wider society
- and some other stuff I haven’t figured out yet.
So, those are my long-term plans. I will try to do something about them. Suggestions and ideas welcome!
Believer's Brain 
They all sound like really interesting topics, though I understand your concerns about reading and thinking about SI too much. It’s funny, but I’ve never thought about self-harm as a sin – perhaps because I wasn’t a Christian when I was cutting. I do feel that I coped the best way I could at the time and it’s not something I feel guilty or ashamed about… though I think if I was to give in to an urge now, and especially if I didn’t turn to God for help first, I might view it as a sin.
I would love to read about cats as medicine and mental health in the workplace too. My cats have been a huge help to me, and like you I’ve had both good and bad workplace experiences.
Definitely think one about cats is coming up – just as soon as I have got my ears unblocked by the nurse as it is making me grumpy and don’t-care-ish at the moment!