OUR PAIN – BEYOND UNDERSTANDING In the 1800’s, at a time when “the insane” were kept in jails and almshouses, they were horrifically mistreated. Social reformer, Dorothea Dix, did much to change this. While touring such places throughout the U.S., she drew the government’s attention to “the state of the insane persons confined within […]
Read More...Having a mental illness doesn’t mean that a person has any less ability to reason than the next person. It doesn’t mean they’re any less able to know when wrong is done. It doesn’t mean they cannot feel the pain when they are being mistreated. And it doesn’t mean that the truth about that mistreatment […]
Read More...There is an insidious form of stigma that’s common in the lives of people with mental illness. It’s caused by mistreatment that’s real but not obvious, and so, when complaints are made, they’re not believed. The victims’ ability tell the truth about a situation, is all too often questioned. That’s unfair and a great injustice. […]
Read More...Time passed. I started going to a new church where I was well accepted, as I had been in my previous church. I grew spiritually and was delighted to make friends with a couple of people who showed me more love than I think I’d ever had. I would call it godly love. They became […]
Read More...It’s time, really time, to put an end to my story. I’m glad to have found better wellness through the telling. But today I’m tired of thinking about so much sadness and ugliness. I want to start enjoying the new me. And so, I’ll wrap up with this: I strongly believe this account had to […]
Read More...In the previous post I wrote: “Eradicating stigma is a fight, but as Christians we need to use love as our weapon of choice, not attacking with cutting words that will hurt. Even when people hurt us, we should try not to hurt back.” Unfortunately I haven’t been able to hold to what I said […]
Read More...To think of how I’ve ended up with BPD! It’s an illness that causes me to be thought badly of and avoided. I’ve lost friends and continue losing friends. Recent requests for health care ignored. The very thought of being saddled with this illness and wondering why it all happened to me fills me […]
Read More...“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11 Everyone feels a degree of pain when hurt through rejection or through others’ words or actions. For those living with BPD, such pain is considerably more intense. With this piece I […]
Read More...“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 I enjoy little children, the young ones that don’t care how they look to others. They’re real, just the way God made them to be. They live and love with everything they […]
Read More...© 2024 Marja Bergen
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