Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Category: Stigma (page 13 of 14)

Leprosy of mental illness: living with borderline part 9

  DIARY: Despised by those once close, made to feel ugly. What have I done? I did the best I could. Was I really to blame, or was it the label someone stuck on me?   Where do you go when you have an illness that doctors and counselors don’t want to deal with – […]

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Like an outcast

  And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will; be clean.” Mark 1:40-41 (RSV)   At the time Jesus lived, touching an outcast with contagious […]

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Part 8: what do family and friends say? Living with borderline

  But to God – to Jesus – we are valuable and beautiful. Each of us is a unique creation. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14   When we think of being stigmatized because of an illness or disorder, our […]

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Living with borderline: Part 7 – growing at bpac

  Sometime after leaving Cliff Avenue I found Brentwood Park Alliance Church (BPAC). It was a big change from the United Church. The sermons were stronger and started to make a difference in my life. The Bible also spoke to me in a greater way than it had before. As a result, my walk with […]

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Man of sorrows; man of compassion

In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Isaiah 63:9   Why did Isaiah refer to Jesus as a “man of sorrows?” (Isaiah 53:3) There are many […]

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Dear readers – about bpd

  You may have noticed that I started a series of posts a few weeks ago that I call Living with Borderline. I’m hoping the posts will encourage those who live with borderline personality disorder and that they will help their family and friends learn to understand them. I pray that raising awareness will help […]

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Becoming a child again

“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 […]

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Living with borderline: the problem of stigma

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is not adequately described by the label it commonly goes by. A more accurate description would be emotional dysregulation. BPD has nine features. Some of us have all of them; others, like me, have only some. For more information about the disorder, google BPD. But don’t allow what you read there […]

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Becoming a child again

  “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 […]

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Ashamed?

  …let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, […]

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