It’s the covert way that male depression hides that makes it scary. The blind spot that men can get taken out by. Men need ‘listening’ friends where they feel safe enough to tell their stories. It was like a fog was being lifted off around my brain. I was able […]
Getting Well Staying Well
53 posts
Life would never be the same again, but whose life is after struggling with an illness. Perhaps we have to redefine recovery and discover that there is no one ‘You-er than you’. Nathan had plans of becoming a doctor. But his parents separated when he was aged 15 and his world […]
Just outside my window, I can see a beautiful yellow rose. It wasn’t there last week, well actually it was, but it was just tightly bound up under its green calyx. A lot can happen in a week, in a day, in a moment. I can see the beauty but to deeply […]
You don’t know what you don’t know, and if you’re mentally unwell, this unawareness can be huge. Well, that is kind of obvious, but actually, there are times when you look back over your life and wish that you knew then what you know now. Now I’m not talking about […]
It was off to the races, and my thoughts and feelings were racing around in my head. Out in front was ‘This and that’ followed firmly behind by ‘Panic’ and ‘Fear.’ Neck and neck were ‘Hopelessness’ and ‘Despair’ while ‘Stuck in the Mud’ was stuck in the mud and sinking. […]
We’ve been robbed in more ways than we know. It wasn’t the usual snatch and grab. This was more a subtle insidious taking of life. In the early stages of their depressive illness, they had been put on the new wonder drug Valium. With strong tranquillizing effects, life was muted. Then […]
To heal, we need to humbly accept the truth of our human fragility. Medication can help us heal. There is a soap opera here in New Zealand called Shortland Street. In the very first episode, a nurse tells a doctor a simple sentence that has become, believe it or not, part […]
There are times that my thoughts and feelings seem to swing like monkeys in a tree. My mind just seems to go everywhere. It swings into depression, anxiety and then back into depression. My mind seems to have a mind of its own. Recently I was speaking on a podcast […]
The change was barely noticeable unless you knew them well enough to know that this was significant. It was a small change in their behaviour, a problem that had plagued them for most of their life, but now it was gone. They wanted a miracle, like the over night delivery of […]
We all have an identity, a name we have been given, and can identify with. The connection deepens when we learn each other’s name. Each morning I start my day in a comfortable chair, listen to the Bible, thinking about the day ahead, and making a list of tasks. Often […]