I meant to post more often after my last post, but things haven’t been too good here. The UK has been going through a heatwave, so I haven’t been able to sleep very much, although it has cooled down a bit now. I’ve started volunteering for the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in my town, which should […]
A Week of Slight Mentalness, Sorry
July 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Well, it’s been a while. Longer than I intended, in fact, since I last posted. I usually try to post at least once a week, but this has been a strange week! I wrote earlier about coming off risperidone and last week was the one where I finally came off the last of it. And […]
Why, Lord?
June 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I hate suffering. I hate it when someone – even me – comes down with depression, anxiety, psychosis; with an illness that is stigmatised and life-changing and will never fully go away. I hate all illness, sickness, death. I hate wars and famine and natural disasters. I hate the evil that man does to man, […]
Ambition
June 12, 2013 by 1 Comment
What did you want to be when you grew up? My earliest ambition was to be an acrobat – which made my mum laugh, as I was an abnormally clumsy child! Later, I dreamt of writing a novel, of being a politician (!), of finding a fulfilling and intellectually stimulating career where I would be […]
The Bible and Medication
June 8, 2013 by 4 Comments
I have been suffering from withdrawal side-effects from medication this week. My doctor was supposed to reduce my risperidone from 3mg to 0 by 1mg a month, as per my consultant’s instruction, however he didn’t reduce it at all for three months, then when I reminded him he reduced it to 1mg last week, and […]
7 Ways Faith Communities Can Respond to Mental Illness
May 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This is in response to Adrian Warnock’s conversation on mental illness (see here and here on my blog) and is specifically in response to this question from him: How do you think that faith communities and society as a whole can better respond to mental illness? Mental illness is a serious problem affecting millions worldwide. 1 […]
Is Self Injury a Sin?
May 23, 2013 by 1 Comment
I have self harmed, on and off, since I was fourteen. I have self harmed both before and after coming to faith, and I still struggle with, and often fail to resist, the urge to do it when I am depressed. As you may know, I have written my Guide to Self Injury, covering everything […]
Suicide and Religious Faith
May 14, 2013 by 1 Comment
This another question posed by Adrian Warnock in his post: Suicide and Religious Faith following on from his question about mental illness which I posted about in mental illness and my faith. This week, his question is: Research suggests that religious faith protects against suicide. Why do you think that is in light of how your […]
Mental Illness and my Faith
May 11, 2013 by 6 Comments
Apologies for the essay-like title, but I am writing this post in response to Adrian Warnock’s posts on Patheos (“A conversation about faith and mental illness” and “How has faith shaped our view of mental illness?”) He asks a question, in the light of the publishing of Amy Simpson’s book Troubled Minds and the suicide of […]
Gentleness and Stigma
May 5, 2013 by 3 Comments
To acknowledge ourselves as having a mental illness can make us vulnerable. If you read the website of Time to Change, the anti-stigma campaign, you can read about others who have experienced discrimination because of their mental illness, who have been told that they are “faking it” and that they have a flaw in their […]
Believer's Brain 