LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 102 (September 26, 2007) I was delighted today to receive an email from one of our Living Room members which she had sent to a bunch of her friends. I’ll share a portion of it here: “When I told a friend about my support group for mood disorders and what a blessing […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 101 (September 19, 2007) In the last post I talked about how my congregation learned to understand and support people with mental illness. I think one important thing that helps me when I try to educate and help people understand mental health issues – whether it’s through writing or meeting with them […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 100 (September 15, 2007) In their comments a couple of blogging pals say how they wish they could find a place of worship like mine. I’m hoping that this post will help you understand that this support has only grown gradually, over time. I had to educate members of the congregation and […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 99 (September 10, 2007) A while ago I had an article published on canadianchristianity.com with the above title. The first person to comment did not like my view at all, arguing that: “It’s bad. It’s a defect in our brain functioning. There is no gift from God about it. Mental illness is […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 98 (September 7, 2007) After a lot of work, checking and re-checking, having checked by others, having them professionally edited and then beautifully printed, the two manuals are finally finished. They’re sitting in open boxes in our hallway, where I can look at them as I pass and feel good about it […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 97 (September 5, 2007) I’ve been meaning for a while to draw from Harold Koenig’s book, Faith and Mental Health, and share with you some of the treasures of thinking and understanding I have found there. Koenig tells of nearly 500 studies during the twentieth century that reported statistically significant associations between […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 96 (September 1, 2007) No, we didn’t get angry at our Living Room group yesterday. We only discussed anger. Anger with God in particular. The discussion started with the question, “Do you ever feel angry or frustrated with God for your suffering with mood disorder?” Some people did feel that way and […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 95 (August 29, 2007) A friend sent me this quote from a book by Jonathan Zeuss, M.D.: “Depression is a quest for vision; its essence is transformation. Depression wells up and encompasses us for a time in a state of painful, dream-saturated formlessness, but its true purpose is to provide the opportunity […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 94 (August 24, 2007) I want to share some of the neat things about Living Room that I cover in my new manual. Living Room is a Christian self-help group for people with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders. Ideally facilitators should have one of these problems; they will be better able to […]
Read More...LIVING ROOM MEMORIES 93 (August 23, 2007) Those of you who have been coming to this site for a while will remember that I’ve been writing manuals to help people who want to set up a faith-based support group. Manual number one, which describes the Living Room support group concept, is pretty well ready to […]
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