I was still like a child in ways. What was happening bewildered me. I had developed strong bonds with those who had showed me love. Like a child clinging to her parents, I could not let go. Only after thousands of dollars’ worth of psychotherapy did I learn to recognize the truth about what happened. […]
Read More...Friends had betrayed me. My whole community betrayed me. I found myself ostracized. My feelings of self-worth plummeted. Gradually I forgot that I had done anything good at all. One of the worst forms of discrimination is when there is a conflict between a well person and someone with a history of mental illness. This […]
Read More...People with mental illness are too often treated in ways that make them feel inferior—ways that make them feel they’re not as much of a person as others are. If that could only change! Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah when he announced the following in Luke 4:18. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, […]
Read More...I’ve gone far enough with my story. There’s lots more, but much is already covered elsewhere. I now want to tell you what motivated me to write this series. I feel my rights as a human being, and the rights of others with mental illness, are too often considered unimportant. Yet, not taking them seriously […]
Read More...I had been told I’d been too demanding. Relying too much on friends. Constantly needing to email and talk. I’ve told before about how I felt guilty about this behavior and how I tried to change. A few times I asked for boundaries, thinking I needed firm guidelines, but was told I was always welcome […]
Read More...In the days following, I looked for support, calling a few friends to ask for prayer. But no one returned my call. Are they thinking there’s something wrong with me because I was excluded from the group? With support disappearing, I felt like my faith was under attack. I was alone. Abandoned. I said earlier […]
Read More...I used to get terribly angry when I was wronged or when I witnessed an injustice like stigma. I still do. With passion I fought, one of my favourite scriptures close at hand. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6) But does being hungry for justice […]
Read More...I recently plowed my way through what must have been a few hundred emails I had sent to my friends during that unfortunate year. As I read, I was filled with shame. “Oh, Lord! How I must have sickened them! Such an imposition! Why couldn’t I have left them alone? What was I thinking to […]
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...If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. Mark 8:35 NLT In 1993 I wrote an article for the Vancouver Sun about being a patient at Riverview […]
Read More...© 2025 Marja Bergen
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑