The genesis point of our religion is God’s looking at each creature and seeing, first, that it is good. We also, as open, accepting churches, need not start with what is wrong with a person but from the beginning can choose to affirm what is right.
“If more people educated themselves about mental illness, maybe they could understand it is an illness of the brain, not a character defect or something that I, or anyone else who suffers from it, can just stop whenever it is inconvenient,” says Lincolnite Sheri Riley.
Read Papolos’ The Bipolar Child, Granet’s Why Am I Up, Why Am I Down? and other nonfiction resources by Miklowitz, Mondimore, and Waltz. Explore the Nebraska chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill at http://www.nami.org.
One to five percent of adult Americans live with bipolar disorder (BP), formerly manic-depressive disorder. Living with undependable mood swings of this brain dysfunction is like being on a roller coaster at different speeds from time to time. “Tomorrow, am I going to be up, down, or even? You can’t plan anything.”
Fixing BP takes time. Some medications bring unsettling side effects. Others, discomforted, either ignore you or try to do too much, said the advocate-coordinator of online support groups.
One parent calls her daughter’s BP “a brain chemical glitch. After all these years, we have learned acceptance. Her behavior is no reflection on us, or has anything to do with us, other than our genes. Our goal is to help her live a successful life with her Bipolar.”
Compassion helps another. “About half of all people are kind and ‘think before they speak.’ Others feel there has to be someone to blame. We’re all charting foreign territory.” A third adds, “We talk about it to people we trust and whom we know will be caring and accommodating.”
Riley appreciates worship services that acknowledge different gifts among individuals. It took her many years to see her complex illness as a gift bringing her empathy. “Helping others takes the focus off me. I want to make others happy, and in the process, maybe I can find peace with myself. In God’s eyes, we are a11 unique. Look for the special ness of persons. Look beyond the illness at the whole person.”
Getting acquainted, share conversations about interests. The “Where do you work?” query is a tender subject, however, as many take so many medications they cannot afford to return to work. Someone to talk to and accept us for who we are, faults and all, is important. “There is already a negative label of being unaccepted within our own heads.”
Riley’s practiced perseverance with constant emotional flux imparts new strength to the message of a church congregation whose attitude can remind us that God first says, “Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 23:18).
Reprinted from The Nebraska Record with permission by the Nebraska Conference United Church of Christ. From “Reading the Signs.
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