Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Tag: stigma (page 5 of 10)

When all men doubt you

  …in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me? Psalm 56:11   The goal I’ve set for myself is to write devotionals that will build you up and encourage you. We all need that. However, as I sat down to write today, I realized we mustn’t overlook the realities […]

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They don’t matter

  Problems arise when accusations made by mistreated people with mental illness are discredited – when what they say is not believed. When they’re not treated as “real” human beings. They become fair game for those who hold a stigma. Those who might become cruel. Abusers think: “Why worry about how I treat them? If […]

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Wrapping up (2019)

It’s time, really time, to put an end to my story. I’m glad to have found better wellness through the telling. But today I’m tired of thinking about so much sadness and ugliness. I want to start enjoying the new me. And so, I’ll wrap up with this: I strongly believe this account had to […]

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Humbly surrendering (2019)

We need to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7   I’m glad to get […]

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The source of my anger (2019)

I think I’m learning what was at the bottom of my anger during the last years at my previous church. It turns out that much of the depression I experienced during all my Living Room days could very well have been anger turned inwards. I probably had far more depression during that time than was […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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My need for compassion (2019)

Oh, I wish I could have received compassion like Jesus modeled. Jesus was in tune with the suffering of sick people, the suffering and needs of people who are judged by the world. How can people rightly judge a person they don’t understand – whose pain they cannot feel? How can they understand the pain […]

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Understanding the pain (2019)

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.   (1 John 1:7) The Bible uses light as a metaphor for honesty because you can truly see and examine things in the light. But […]

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