Mental Illness & Bipolar Disorder

[Guest]

3 hours ago, penitent60 said:

Hi BT. Glad to hear you have turned the corner so to speak. I am very glad you were able to avoid hospital too.

Hi P60....So far so good   Another week down the line and I will be more confident.  Must admit that this episode has come as a complete shock after over 12 years of basically good mental health with flutters only here and there.

4 hours ago, penitent60 said:

My memories of state based health care (Queensland) is 100% bad. I felt if I was in gaol I would have been dealt with more respect etc,

Same here.  I see my psychiatrist privately and she bulk bills (i.e. no charge).  But if I need hospitalization then I have to go back into the public system.  The environment and/or decor of psychiatric hospitals today in the main is quite impressive. What the public does not understand that for the patient it is the  quality of care from staff - and that is where the lack exists.  I completely agree that we are not treated with respect and respectful care in the public system.

4 hours ago, penitent60 said:

however I was fortunate to be in a situation where I was able to afford private health care so a better class of psych. hospital

When I was married when we could well afford it, I went into a private psychiatric hospital - they are 100% and more in respect and respectful care of patients.

4 hours ago, penitent60 said:

taking potluck which is mostly a guarantee to failure in mental health recovery.

Again, I agree.  In the public system one could have a new psychiatrist quite regularly, meaning one had to start all over again.  Sometimes one had a complete change of medication as well.  Some doctors even relied on medication with no concern for anything but that.

4 hours ago, penitent60 said:

The Catholic church has never been good at fellowship in the way Protestantism has been. Individual members you meet can help in a fellowship way, but as you pointed out the RCC has always focused more on the spiritual, and the fact you are never alone if you have God.

Indeed, one is never alone if one has God as you have said.  However, we are not created spirit alone, God has created us body and soul.  He has also created us as social beings needing each other. We are created to have a need to see the other face to face and converse together in that situation in care and friendship.  I did ring Father asking if someone could bring me Holy Communion just when and if possible.  He was non committal and I never heard from my parish again.  He might have forgotten of course and I would be very kind and forgiving indeed to think in that vein after past experiences.  I do feel to seek what I do need in a quite human sense within the Catholic system is really bashing my head against a wall.  I have no idea why I keep on trying.

Jesus, Second Person of The Blessed Trinity, becomes fully human in all things except sin.  The first thing He does before His public life is gather people around Him.  Religious Life, held rightly as the life of perfection, has as prime community and is intrinsic to religious life-.  One would think as Catholics we would learn something from that. I do feel that I have been 'unlucky' in my various parishes since mental illness struck.  I am confident there are probably parishes that are real communities in every sense of the word.  I have also too in my journey met individual nuns and priests who have gone beyond call of duty in care and concern and real friendship in my journey.  My Carmelite nuns since I was 16 yrs of age.

4 hours ago, penitent60 said:

I have been delighted to meet someone where I have so many points of shared interest.

Me too.

4 hours ago, penitent60 said:

I was appalled to discover you like "Some mothers do have them", surely one of the cringe able offerings ever made for tv IMHO.

I think the later episodes are not as funny as the earlier ones...........and what a boring sort of world if we were all the same.  My pet aversion was and is the comedian, Benny Hill (dec'd), but then heaps of people really  like him.  May he enjoy eternal rest and Peace in Heaven.

4 hours ago, penitent60 said:

My period of less than optimal mental health seems to be shrivelling away too (thank you Lord). WIshing you a happy feast day for All Saints Day. Deo gratias.

Really happy to read that your mental health situation looks on the up and up. Deo Gratius, indeed.

A very happy feast day to you also, tomorrow too for All Souls.

Warm regards..........Barb South Australia

[Guest]

1 hour ago, BarbaraTherese said:

I do feel to seek what I do need in a quite human sense within the Catholic system is really bashing my head against a wall.  I have no idea why I keep on trying.

Phatmass for me is a surrogate for face to face real friendship.  Here on Phatmass I am able to 'speak' openly about mental illness and my Faith as intertwined......in the same breath as it were.

Thinking about why I keep on trying, I think it might be because I believe strongly that we are indeed body and soul and that community and fellowship should be intrinsic to parish life.   Also, that as difficult as mental illness can be, and indeed is, difficult to deal with, we cannot be consigned to a Catholic Too Hard basket because of our illness.  We are indeed the 21st century lepers or outcasts and we know that Jesus had great compassion on lepers and outcasts who looked to Him for Hope.  So too, ideally, The Mystical Body of Christ on earth.  And if The Church is not, then She is letting Jesus down by that much.

My take, anyway.

 

[Guest]

 

The other point too is that The Blessed Trinity, Three Persons in One God, are a Community of Persons.

All the factors mentioned and even more, to my mind, should speak to us about what The Church is in an ideal sense - that for which we should be striving.  I am a baptised faithful Catholic same as any other baptised faithful Catholic - yet I am excluded because of illness?  Not once either, but many times.  If one does not struggle against such exclusion, it will start to undermine self confidence and esteem.........and even much more, for some sufferers even Faith itself.  In my previous parish there were four of us sufferers of mental illness.  Three have left The Church altogether due to treatment received in and by the parish.

That for me is one big huge, huge, ?

[Pax17]

I hope you are continuing to do well and are past this episode.  And thanks for posting the TedEd video...very enlightening.

It is sad that people, especially in group situations, reject others.  Maybe underneath our skin, on a very basic level, we are like herd animals, sticking together in the face of  someone "different," who is perceived as a threat.  It takes courage to move forward, connect and overcome our biases.  Also, I think some people view worship as a social occasion, and forget the tenets of their faith, whatever it may be.

[CatherineM]

My husband has schizophrenia. He never gave up even when the doctors said his life was over. He has never missed his meds. That’s the key for him. He lives a very full and productive life. 

[Guest]

Thank you, Catherine and Pax - and Pax, thank you too for dropping in now and then to say you are praying and for your insightful comments. 

I am now probably 5 days into the normal-for-me phase of a bipolar episode and slowly putting my life back together.  Thankfully, this episode has not been as destructive as some past episodes have been nor did it go to a distinct psychotic phase necessitating hospitalization.  I have come out of it feeling quite 'battered' and drained.

 

[Pax17]

This morning I went up to the nearby Chapel of the Holy Cross....said a prayer for you, hoping that you will feel well soon.  I also got to see the Living Christ crucifix...absolutely magnificent:

https://chapeloftheholycross.com/chapel-art/

 

[Guest]

 

 

[nikita92]

On ‎10‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 11:35 AM, penitent60 said:

I worry endlessly over sin and my inability to pray. I fear a wrathful God,

 

"Inability to pray"

Can you please explain what that consists of?

My perspective- God isn't going to punish you if you can't do it!

Millions upon millions of people don't pray as well.

Don't be so hard on yourself! 

[penitent60]

Hello Nikita92. Thank you for your comment. Catholicism is very much a schizophrenic thing (to my eyes) as it teaches us of a loving Christ  on the one hand and of a wrathful God on the other. After all, God sent His only Son to die a HORRIBLE death for our sins. If HIS death on the cross was unnecessary why would a LOVING God deal this out. Today's church seems to preach a loving Christ no matter how much you ignore or blaspheme here. I am frightened that I just don't TRY hard enough.

[CatherineM]

My husband has trouble praying. His voices get louder. 

[Luigi]

22 hours ago, penitent60 said:

Hello Nikita92. Thank you for your comment. Catholicism is very much a schizophrenic thing (to my eyes) as it teaches us of a loving Christ  on the one hand and of a wrathful God on the other. After all, God sent His only Son to die a HORRIBLE death for our sins. If HIS death on the cross was unnecessary why would a LOVING God deal this out. Today's church seems to preach a loving Christ no matter how much you ignore or blaspheme here. I am frightened that I just don't TRY hard enough.

There is an evolution - actually better thought of as a revelation - here.

The God of the Old Testament is often interpreted as wrathful, and then with the incarnation of Jesus, we see revealed the fully loving God. Jesus did still say some pretty "harsh" things if you tend to interpret things harshly - "Be perfect as your Father is perfect," "When you've done all that you can, say I've done no more than I should have" and that kind of thing. But overall, Jesus revealed God's love - "The kingdom of God is at hand," "I'm going to prepare a place for you in heaven," the Good Shepherd, the forgiving of sins (70 x 7), establishing the sacraments, the sending of the Paraclete, and lots more.

And even that Old Testament image of God isn't as wrathful as a lot of people like to depict. Creating Adam and Eve wasn't wrathful - God wanted to share his creation with his creatures. Giving them full access to (nearly) all the good things in the Garden of Eden wasn't wrathful. Leading the Jews out of Egypt and giving them a promised land wasn't wrathful. The wisdom books aren't wrathful. Most of Isaiah's preaching images aren't wrathful. I could go on.

So Church teaching can be seen a having two parts, and the parts can even be seen as conflicting, which may be what you mean by "Catholicism is very much a schizophrenic thing (to my eyes)." But if you look at the conflicting parts chronologically, you can see that the New Testament teachings have fulfilled - and replaced - the Old Testament teachings. Thus the difference in names. And we live in New Testament times.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Luigi

[penitent60]

Thank you for your coherent response Luigi. This should soothe my furrowed brow but the immediate thought after reading it is that God is outside of space and time. I suspect I shall be always assailed with these wretched doubts and I often feel my prevailing fault is my "unbelief". I suspect the devil is forever whispering these doubts into my ear.

 

BE A MACCABEE

 

[Luigi]

11 minutes ago, penitent60 said:

Thank you for your coherent response Luigi. This should soothe my furrowed brow but the immediate thought after reading it is that God is outside of space and time. I suspect I shall be always assailed with these wretched doubts and I often feel my prevailing fault is my "unbelief". I suspect the devil is forever whispering these doubts into my ear.

 

BE A MACCABEE

 

Indeed, God is outside of space and time. Meaning, I don't even understand it - my mind is not given to theoretical physics - but I'm willing to accept it.

On the other hand, WE are not outside of space and time. And God - being omniscient and all - knows that. So God reveals information to us within the limits of space and time.

***************************

Another, more long-range, approach that could be beneficial would be to take a theology class of some sort. I don't know what exactly, but talk to a priest, a theologian, a spiritual advisor, or somebody like that. You shouldn't have to figure out this stuff all by yourself - the Church can put two millenia of distilled theological reflection at your disposal, one way or another.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Luigi

[Guest]

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NEW TESTAMENT: Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.

Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for (someone) to devour.Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings." (1 Peter Chaprter 5 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P125.HTM)

 

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OLD TESTAMENT: "Hear me, O house of Jacob, all who remain of the house of Israel, My burden since your birth, whom I have carried from your infancy.

Even to your old age I am the same, even when your hair is gray I will bear you; It is I who have done this, I who will continue, and I who will carry you to safety.

Whom would you compare me with, as an equal, or match me against, as though we were alike? (Isaiah chapter 46 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__POT.HTM)

 

 

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NEW TESTAMENT "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word." (2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/__P10W.HTM)