Showing posts with label Mental Illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mental Illness. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Monday, March 24, 2014
BookPastor >> "Darkness is My Only Companion" (Kathryn Greene-McCreight)
TITLE: Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness
AUTHOR: Kathryn Greene-McCreight
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006, (176 pages).
Mental illness is one of the biggest challenges facing societies today. While there has been huge advancement in medical sciences for medical research and breakthroughs in general, investment in the study and care of mental patients seems lacking. Resources are so scarce that the author of this book, a person with clinical depression, bi-polar disorders, and manic behaviours, had to write her own book. That was because she could not find any material that touches on mental illnesses from a religious perspective, in particular Christianity. How do we medicate mental illnesses? Where is God in all of these? How can we make sense of objectivity, subjectivity, and to know what is real and what is not?
This is made even more challenging as the author herself is a theologian, used to academic objectivity. At the same time, with her own mental and emotional condition, how is she able to consistently express her thoughts in a truthful and coherent way? Amazingly, she did. Written in three parts, Part One chronicles her journey through facing mental illness. It is a very personal one as she hangs on the the promises of Scripture such as Psalm 88 on the one hand, and stares at darkness in the face on the other. He hangs on to the three cords of sanity: "religious (worship and prayer); psychological (psychotherapy); and medical (medication, electroconvulsive therapy, and hospitalization)." In doing so, she invites readers, especially those with quite similar circumstances to walk with her. With deep understanding, she recognizes depression not as a problem to be eradicated but something to be understood first, treated second, and lived with during the process. She struggles with thoughts of death, symptoms of confusion, episodes of emotional swings. Acknowledging the difficult of cultivating friendship with the mentally ill, she says that one of the best things anyone can do is to pray. Not just praying for something, but prayer.
AUTHOR: Kathryn Greene-McCreight
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006, (176 pages).
This is made even more challenging as the author herself is a theologian, used to academic objectivity. At the same time, with her own mental and emotional condition, how is she able to consistently express her thoughts in a truthful and coherent way? Amazingly, she did. Written in three parts, Part One chronicles her journey through facing mental illness. It is a very personal one as she hangs on the the promises of Scripture such as Psalm 88 on the one hand, and stares at darkness in the face on the other. He hangs on to the three cords of sanity: "religious (worship and prayer); psychological (psychotherapy); and medical (medication, electroconvulsive therapy, and hospitalization)." In doing so, she invites readers, especially those with quite similar circumstances to walk with her. With deep understanding, she recognizes depression not as a problem to be eradicated but something to be understood first, treated second, and lived with during the process. She struggles with thoughts of death, symptoms of confusion, episodes of emotional swings. Acknowledging the difficult of cultivating friendship with the mentally ill, she says that one of the best things anyone can do is to pray. Not just praying for something, but prayer.
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