Depression/anxiety/possible Ocd

[misereremi]

More prayers united with those of your phamily here on PM. You have a good friend in CA who knows and understands your problems, I hope you can take her advice. I pray that you get well soon, luv. God bless

[farglefeezlebut]

Thanks.

I went to mass yesterday and did not bite myself.
Didn't take communion, though...

[Fidei Defensor]

Prayer won't help you, I used to be in your position. If God is real, he really likes to play games. I spent years feeling horrible about myself and God, and then finally, I decided to get away from it all, and now I'm as happy as can be. Of course, this is just my personal story, so take it however you'd like. Those here will just tell you I'm damning my soul and yada yada.

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='fidei defensor' post='1471825' date='Mar 1 2008, 10:06 AM']Prayer won't help you, I used to be in your position. If God is real, he really likes to play games. I spent years feeling horrible about myself and God, and then finally, I decided to get away from it all, and now I'm as happy as can be. Of course, this is just my personal story, so take it however you'd like. Those here will just tell you I'm damning my soul and yada yada.[/quote]

terrible.. you need more prayer than she does..

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='farglefeezlebut' post='1469798' date='Feb 27 2008, 05:42 AM']I've been advised by more than one person to leave Catholicism for something more liberal.[/quote]

talk about damning yourself.. you need the most help now and leaving Catholicism would be throwing away the precious tools God gives us to get closer to Him. it's like studying for the SAT's and ditching your books to read Dr. Seuss or Sesame Street.

[quote name='phatcatholic' post='1469852' date='Feb 27 2008, 08:16 AM']Also, you need to consider going to a counselor (for therapy) and a psychiatrist (for medication). Both of these, in conjunction with prayer, should help you a great deal. It seems to me that you have deep feelings of worthlessness, particularly before God, that is causing your depression and anxiety. This would also explain why you are hurting yourself when in the presence of the Eucharist, b/c when you stand before God you only see yourself as worthy of punishment and pain.

Counseling can help you get to the root of these thoughts and behaviors and find some healing. Depression, anxiety, and even OCD, respond well to medication too. So, there is hope for you, my friend! Don't feel guilty about going to a counselor and a psychiatrist to get some help with these things. God uses them to help people every day. And don't forget to go to God in prayer. No more apologies to Him, ok? Just pray for peace.

I hope that helps.

Pax Christi,
phatcatholic[/quote]

+10000000000

do ^this. NOW. ASAP.

+++
prayers for you. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

[johnnydigit]

[url="http://saints.sqpn.com/saintd01.htm"]St. Dymphna[/url]
[img]http://www.cukierski.net/st.dymphna.jpg[/img]

Also known as
Dympna; Dimpna
Memorial
D 15 May
Profile
Daughter of a pagan Irish chieftain named Damon, and a beautiful devoted Christian woman whose name has not come down to us. Her mother died when Dymphna was a teenager. Her father searched the Western world for a woman to replace his wife, but none could. Returning home, he saw that his daughter was as beautiful as her mother, and maddened by grief, he made advances on her. She fought him off, then fled to Belgium with Saint Gerebernus, an elderly priest and family friend.

Dymphna's father searched for them, and his search led to Belgium. There an innkeeper refused to accept his money, knowing it was difficult to exchange. This told Damon that his daughter was close - it would be unusual for a village innkeeper to know a lot about foreign currency, and his knowledge indicated that had recently seen it. The king concentrated his search in the area. When he found them in Gheel, he beheaded Gerebernus, and demanded that Dymphna surrender to him. She refused, and he killed her in a rage.

The site where she died is known for its miraculous healings of the insane and possessed. There is now a well-known institution on the site, and her relics are reported to cure insanity and epilepsy.

[url="http://saints.sqpn.com/saintd01.htm"]http://saints.sqpn.com/saintd01.htm[/url]
[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05221b.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05221b.htm[/url]
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Dymphna"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Dymphna[/url]

[url="http://www.wku.edu/~sally.kuhlenschmidt/whimsy/dymphna.htm"]http://www.wku.edu/~sally.kuhlenschmidt/whimsy/dymphna.htm[/url]
[img]http://www.wku.edu/~sally.kuhlenschmidt/images/dymphna.jpg[/img]

[url="http://www.natlshrinestdymphna.org"]http://www.natlshrinestdymphna.org[/url]

[url="http://www.scborromeo.org/prayers/dymphna.htm"]Prayers to Saint Dymphna[/url]
I turn to you, dear virgin and martyr, confident of your power with God and of your willingness to take my cause into your hands. I praise and bless the Lord for giving you to us as patron of the nervous and emotionally disturbed. I firmly hope that through your kind intercession He will restore my lost serenity and peace of mind. May He speak to my heart and reassure me: "My peace I give you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be afraid."
Pray for me, dear St. Dymphna, that my nervous and emotional turmoil may cease, and that I may again know serenity and personal peace.
Amen.

[i]St. Dymphna, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us.
St. Dymphna, patron of nervous and emotional illnesses, pray for us.
St. Dymphna, crowned for the glory in heaven, pray for us.
St. Dymphna, faithful to your covenant with Christ, pray for us.
St. Dymphna, precious in the eyes of the Lord, pray for us.
St. Dymphna, our helper in every need, pray for us.
St. Dymphna, our friend at heave's court, pray for us.[/i]

[img]http://www.scborromeo.org/images/saints/dymphna.jpg[/img]

[Fidei Defensor]

[quote name='johnnydigit' post='1471889' date='Mar 1 2008, 01:57 PM']terrible.. you need more prayer than she does..[/quote]
Thanks for your concern, but I dont really care. Pray away and see how that turns out for you

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='fidei defensor' post='1471958' date='Mar 1 2008, 03:16 PM']Thanks for your concern, but I dont really care. Pray away and see how that turns out for you [/quote]

ok. even if you don't care, somebody always does..

[quote name='fidei defensor' post='70538' date='Jul 16 2007, 07:02 PM']Please pray for me as I begin a personal treatment plan to help stop the moderate depression I've been experiencing.

Thanks.[/quote]

so how did this depression turn out for you?

[MC IMaGiNaZUN]

As for the lovely and beloved of Jesus FFB, you are being given a cross. It is hard to understand. I wish i could give you a hug now, and pour out all of God's love for you.
But all i can say is for Hope sake, that beauty comes from ugliness. Jesus died on the cross, was ugly pervertedly bruised beyond recognition, and arose glorious the third day beautiful and triumphant.
Jesus went through hell, and came out beautiful and victorious. Jesus went through hell, so that in your darkest times, in your craziest times, He is right there by your side. You are doing a wonderful job, and Jesus smiles upon you FFB, You are precious in his sight, and he will have abundant blessings for you in store in heaven. I know you feel scared, I know you feel tormented.

BUT YOU ARE NOT ALONE JESUS IS WITH YOU!!!

Shalom
Bro Mark
I say this as someone who was in quite hellish circumstances when God called me to my vocation, and God has liberated me from the "poisonous deceit" which ruined my life, and made me happy. But there is more to happiness than feeling nice and good, but recognize what good will come from all the ugly evils in life.

[scardella]

Note: tongue firmly planted in cheek

Get yourself some holy water.
Bless yourself with it every five minutes.

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='scardella' post='1472233' date='Mar 2 2008, 07:56 AM']Note: tongue firmly planted in cheek

Get yourself some holy water.
Bless yourself with it every five minutes.[/quote]

sorry i couldn't resist

[cathoholic_anonymous]

[quote name='fidei defensor' post='1471825' date='Mar 1 2008, 06:06 PM']Prayer won't help you, I used to be in your position. If God is real, he really likes to play games. I spent years feeling horrible about myself and God, and then finally, I decided to get away from it all, and now I'm as happy as can be. Of course, this is just my personal story, so take it however you'd like. Those here will just tell you I'm damning my soul and yada yada.[/quote]

If your problems were solved by a simple change in belief, you can't have been that mentally ill.

Clinically diagnosable mental illness affects one in four people at some point in their lives. It can come to anyone, no matter what their race or culture or religion (if any). And it doesn't go away when you renounce faith altogether, get a new religion, change your 'lifestyle', take up a quiet hobby, or go for regular long walks in the park. (I have numerous mentally ill friends who were given this type of advice by well-meaning but generally clueless people.)

As for 'getting away from it all', you don't beat mental illness by running away. I say this as somebody who has sat by the bed of a fourteen-year-old girl who was sectioned in a psychiatric ward, holding her hand and trying to comfort her as lay in a tranquillised haze from her latest suicide attempt. I wanted to 'get away' then. So did she. Fortunately, that option wasn't there for us, and we weathered the storm together. I wrote the following three blog entries about [url="http://www.rejesus.co.uk/blog/?p=70"]her angry and painful rejection of faith[/url], my struggle [url="http://www.rejesus.co.uk/blog/?p=105"]to come to terms with her pain as a Christian[/url], and [url="http://www.rejesus.co.uk/blog/?p=114"]her tentative journey back to God[/url].

Right now Jesus is not the only friend whom FFB is scared of and whose love she struggles to accept. Sometimes she struggles to accept me, and I'm very close to her in real life. Sometimes she fantasises about physically hurting me and her other friends. She feels terribly guilty as a result and that in turn makes her illness worse. By your logic, she should get away from us too - after all, she sometimes feels badly upset at the thought of us. But I'm not going to let one of my best friends cut herself off from me just because she's poorly and her brain is a bit wobbly these days. Similarly, she should not run away from God just because she is afraid of the nightmarish cartoon-god that has invaded her thoughts. You should never base your decisions on fear. Especially not when you're that ill.

[johnnydigit]

fidei defensor, i apologize for the low blow. i must have posted that thinking that i was sparring with an atheist who denounces prayer and God all together (still not sure if you're claiming atheism).

anyways, there is still hope for you if you are. you may be content now, but your world will crash down on you soon enough and that's when you'll wonder about your previous faith. you can prepare for it in advance to make the crash less deadly, or just take your chances on your own. suffice to say that without God, it will be much, much worse.

[farglefeezlebut]

I posted literally minutes ago that I felt like I wanted to stop existing. And I have calmed down.

My emotions come and go as quickly as rainclouds and have as much meaning. But God never changes.

The sun doesn't stop existing when I shut my eyes, and it wouldn't stop existing if I went blind.

If I am blind to God's mercy, that is nobody's fault and means nothing.

Edited March 8, 2008 by farglefeezlebut

[Paddington]

Please just do what is best for you. Spend your thoughts on things you can control.
You can't control what God will do. What people will do. What feelings will come to you.
And make sure you sleep and eat well.