Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Category: Stigma (page 11 of 14)

Trust God and do good

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  270  (March 16, 2010) Big disappointment. We had to cancel the plans for a seminar because a couple of the speakers weren’t able to make it on the date we had planned. And there’s no other good time this year for me to devote to it. A trip in late May and […]

Read More...

Equality under God (2019)

    Life is hard for those with mental health issues wanting to make the world a better place for others like them. There’s the problem of not being thought equal to others – the problem of being looked down on. Is there any hope at all for people like that to be heard? Any […]

Read More...

Dignity and worth

  When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews […]

Read More...

Can you understand such pain? (2019)

This story tells – and will continue telling – things that need to be heard. It tries to show the many ways in which stigma, emotional abuse, and rejection can affect a person with mental illness. You are reading about an example, a tragedy in the life of one individual. Within a brief period of […]

Read More...

Loss of friendship (2019)

I have a friend who was very important to me, in many ways. This friend helped shape me into the person I’ve become, guiding me, mentoring me spiritually, giving me comfort when I needed it. I never had anyone I admired so greatly nor felt closer to. How sad it was when changes happened to […]

Read More...

Unstable, but I can still write (2019)

Looking over the previous blog from 2009 I see how the degree of wellness I had during my Living Room days had not been as great as I remembered. I had a lot of instability. Long periods of depression and then highs when I started planning and organizing far more than I could manage. Today […]

Read More...

Am I the “normal” me today? (2019)

As in the post I wrote in 2009, I wonder: Am I like the person I used to be? I do think I’m starting to get there and what a wondrous thing that is. Is this for real and will it continue? In November 12th last year, I lay in an emergency room bed, waiting […]

Read More...

Excluded from study group (2019)

At this point I think it’s time I tell you about my greatest source of pain. It was only one of many, but contributed more to later suffering and emotional damage than any other single event. I’m sharing this to illustrate how great and cruel stigma can be and how dehumanizing it is to the […]

Read More...

Why is my story important? (2019)

When I was in the ER on November 12, wishing I could die, I realized I couldn’t until my story was told. I wanted to talk about some of the work I had done, raising mental health awareness in the church and founding Living Room. I needed to show how my life had gone tragically […]

Read More...

Condemnation from Christians

LIVING ROOM MEMORIES   191  (September 23, 2008) This morning someone going by the name Warrior Princess left a comment on an article I have online right now at canadianchristianity.com. The piece tries to show how mental illnesses are illnesses like any other – diabetes, heart disease, etc. etc. I was trying to educate, to eradicate […]

Read More...
Older posts Newer posts

© 2026 Marja Bergen

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑