Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Category: Stigma (page 9 of 14)

Mental illness and the credibility gap

  Picture yourself: A capable person in most respects, having opinions and able to present them logically, having thoughts and ideas no less meaningful than those others have. Perhaps you’re a leader, a person who can make things happen. A person who can make a difference. But despite having many good qualities that make you […]

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I lost my good reputation

  An Excerpt from My Battle Against Stigma (revised version of I Will Not Hide) by Marja Bergen Perhaps it was my cries of pain that caused word about what had happened to get out. Stories about me spread like wildfire. I, the victim, was given the blame. The person in authority who caused my […]

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By his wounds we are healed

  I think a lot of us suffer more from how we have been hurt by others than we do from our mental illness. And how hard it is to find a friend who will understand. How often we lose friends because our need for them is more than they can bear.   Pain like […]

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The only way to keep going

  I’ve been criticized for talking too much about my pain. Criticized for writing too many stories about myself. But I believe it’s the only way I can keep on living. Each time a crisis hits, each time I end up in the emergency ward, not knowing how to go on, the only thing that […]

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Blamed

  Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12   When I most needed love, I was treated with frustration. Anger. “Why don’t you pull yourself together?” he seemed to say. Like many, he thought that illnesses of the mind could be controlled. […]

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Outcasts like me

  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, […]

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Following in his steps

  …if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:20-21   As we follow Jesus we might be surprised at what God will call us […]

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When least is expected

  The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the […]

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All of us his children

  See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 1 John 3:1 NLT   If our Father in Heaven loves us enough to […]

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Brothers and sisters all

  There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 NLT At the time Jesus came to earth, people were not believed to have equal value. But Jesus changed things, treating people with equal dignity and worth. Christianity became foundational to […]

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