This is a poem by Edward Shillito (1872-1948) which, as a recovering self-injurer, has special meaning to me: Jesus of the Scars If we have never sought, we seek Thee now; Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars; We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow; We must have Thee, O Jesus […]
My ESA Story Pt 2 – The Conclusion
June 7, 2012 by 6 Comments
I wrote yesterday about the saga of my ESA appeal. Today I had my appeal hearing. My appeal was at 10am, which I was quite grateful for as it left me less time to worry about it. I was still quite anxious, although not as bad as the previous time (where I attended but they […]
Things Not To Say To A Depressed Person 2
June 1, 2012 by 7 Comments
“Pull Yourself Together“ Some people assume that depression is a state we can fall into when not paying attention. A natural, but lazy response to modern life. They assume that if we wished to, we could stop feeling depressed, by pulling ourselves together – by forcing ourselves out of a depression and into the required normal/happy mood […]
‘Coming Out’ as Mentally Ill?
May 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Right, so here goes with the “not just article-y type stuff”! I’ve had a great day today. Firstly, I met a lady who is going to help me get some work experience in chaplaincy, we had a nice conversation and she seemed to like me, which is always good. She also mentioned possibly getting me […]
Cats as Therapy
May 28, 2012 by 2 Comments
I have always had pets. I started with a goldfish, moved on to a hamster, and now have a cat called Fluffy. Fluffy has been with us for around seven years now, and is, in my completely biased opinion, the best cat ever. She is very affectionate, loves being stroked and cuddled, and spends […]
Getting Some (Christian) Education
May 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I want to be more fully immersed in my faith. I don’t know whether it is a feature of my bipolar but I am very much an all-or-nothing sort of person. I either want to spend all my time doing something, or not do it at all; the idea of having a faith but doing […]
Sin, Truth and Me
May 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I am a sinner. I have done many things wrong in my life. I have sinned against my neighbour and against my God. We are all sinners. The Bible teaches that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom 3:23) Every last one of us has failed God in some way, […]
Do you have “depression”?
May 6, 2012 by 4 Comments
What I’d like to write about here is, I think, an intense irritant to most mentally ill people. That is, the way people loosely use the term “depression” to refer to things that are not medical depression and get themselves all twisted up and end up stigmatising us. I am making it sound more simple […]
Psychiatric Hospital Chapels and Chaplains
May 4, 2012 by 3 Comments
On the radio today I heard a segment about a chapel in a mental hospital being changed to a multi-faith worship place. The link there has the headline as “Chaplain “horrified” by hospital church closure” which is actually incorrect as the article states that St Ann’s psychiatric hospital in Dorset is simply changing their chapel […]
Believer's Brain 