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Fun Through Modern Medicine
(October 18, 2007)
A woman who works in our office just came back from a mental stress leave. After three months of being off (part of which she was institutionalized) she is trying to get back into the swing of things. We talked about her being on medication and the stigma that it created... even losing friends because of it. I told her that they weren't real friends in the first place if they judge you on that. It's hard to accept that in this day and age mental illness is still so taboo. I explained to her that it's like any chemical imbalance. Diabetes, heart conditions, and other health problems can all be controlled by medication. It doesn't make the person any less of a decent human being. The nice thing was that she wanted to talk about it. She wanted people to know. She figured that way they could make their decision and she would know where they stood. I admire her for that. We had a nice conversation and she really looked happy about talking to me about it. It's one of those awkward situations where you want to tell someone... you just don't know how. An interesting tidbit was how she spoke about her culture (she's black) disregards mental illness. She's going through horrible depression and they're telling her to pray, put her faith in G-d, etc... As if she's just not religious enough and that's her problem. Why do people rely on religion for everything? As if everything else is just a way to stick it to G-d. I told her the next time they're on death's door with a cold and have enough snot flowing to drown a cow... tell them they need to pray instead of taking that Cold medicine. Let's see how fast they backtrack on their opinion when *they're* the ones suffering. Oh, and then duck. Nyquil bottles can cause a nasty bump on the noggin when thrown... even from a weak bible thumper. Posted by Diva at October 18, 2007 06:42 AM
CommentsPosted by: AEI at October 18, 2007 04:41 PM  Hey AEI! It's always good to see your responses. First off, my thoughts and prayer are with you for your dad. People look at mental illness like it's the person's fault. That's what really got me about this woman. She was trying so hard and drowning in her own depression because everyone kept telling her she was being selfish, or craving attention. And these are the people who supposedly are friends! One of the biggest problems I have with Christianity and their view of G-d is how he suddenly turned into a nice guy. I had a HUGE debate over how they think you ask forgiveness and G-d just lets you in. I asked how they felt about breaking bread with Jeffrey Dahmer every day. They usually find some loophole (that never existed) about G-d judging. But honestly... it's one way or the other. Either your G-d allows the worst of sinners along with someone who's never done anything really bad wrong (talk about unfair) or he judges you and you either walk through the gates or go straight to Hell. Posted by: Diva at October 18, 2007 06:39 PM Post a comment |
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My sister has a mental illness, and I recently found out my dad has brain cancer (which can lead to some sever mental impairment). My mother is an undiagnosed psychotic. There was a time when I went through a long bout of depression, mostly in my teenager years.
I think there is a lot you can do to help yourself, but saying lack of faith is a contributing factor is fairly off the mark to me. You do have to believe in yourself, but expecting God to help you is pretty unlikely considering how God doesn't help
children who suffer at the hands of various sickos,
nor does God help you when you're born with a crippling genetic defect.
If there is a God, I'm fairly sure that's not how God operates and I'm convinced he doesn't grant special favors based on who prays the most. If anything, the world is designed in such a way that we must help ourselves and each other without God's help.
That's about all I can conclude at this point, without saying God doesn't exist or doesn't care.
I tend to think the concept of God needs some serious re-working, as there is something that binds the universe together, but it doesn't necessarily operate like a human would. Suffering from afar may appear as good for the progression of the whole, who knows. I'm curious as to how that's suppose to work.