Welcome to Dymphna's Diary

Although I am not Catholic, I find it interesting that "Dymphna" is the patron saint of those who suffer from clinical depression and other mental illnesses. Considering the purpose of this site is to offer inspiration and spiritual guidance to my readers, I felt it was only right I chose her namesake for the title.

In 2010, this site was set up to pass along personal information about how depression has affected my life and the lives of my family. Since then, it has EVOLVED. In 2011, I attempted to present posts that were INSPIRATIONAL to you, my readers. In 2012, I went even deeper with personal stories from people across the United States via touching videos, songs, and interviews. My hope was to show each of you that even when you feel that you are in a situation that no one else could understand, you are not alone. Through it all, my comments have remained to be my personal opinions and spiritual reflections. I will continue to occasionally post information that I feel is beneficial in removing the stigma of mental illness, but regardless I feel blessed to have been given this platform to spread God's love and compassion for ALL people. I wouldn't be where I am today without the strength I receive daily from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My hope is that this blog will help you find some comfort in your life. It most certainly is helping me find comfort in mine.

I want to make it perfectly clear, though, that when I make generalizations regarding mental illness, I am NOT giving advice to anyone. I'm just passing along information that I have found helpful in my life. I'm writing about MY PERSONAL experiences and thoughts. Mental illness affects everyone differently and your situation may not be reflective of mine.


Monday, January 10, 2011

The Time of the Season...

As I've told you before, I am BiPolar. Today has been very hard for me... I didn't even get out of my pajamas until 5:30pm. I only did that then because I had a church board meeting at 7:00pm. I've been crying since I left the meeting - can't seem to stop. This is my disease.

Winter is extremely hard for me, but I think some of the problem today is the world's reaction to the shooting in Arizona on Saturday. (Please believe that my heart goes out to the families of all the victims in this tragedy!) So many people - on the television, in church yesterday, on the internet - have been talking about the young man that has been charged with shooting and killing all those innocent people... talking about how HE must been mentally ill. Heck, I even wrote about it yesterday in my Blog.

But, the thing is, a lot of people assume that just because you suffer from a mental illness that you are capable of doing what Jared Lee Loughner allegedly did in Arizona? But if Jared Loughner is mentally ill, he needs professional help and prayers- just like I wrote about yesterday. And, of course, all those other families that are affected by what happened Saturday are going to need prayers and support, too. This is a very complicated situation.

And then, of course, you've got the hate preacher, Fred Phelps, from Westboro Baptist Church, who claims his church is praying for more shooters. Phelps claims that God was punishing Arizona for laws against the Westboro Baptist Church and that God is sitting in the heavens "laughing at them in their affliction." So, are people going to claim that Phelps is mentally ill (or just mean)?

I've written so many times about the stigma regarding mental illness... I guess now we all know why. People are afraid to tell other people about their depression because of what others will think of them. I don't even have a "follower's tab" on this site because of that fact... I want my readers to have privacy.

Please help remove the stigma...

***Please review the statistic about mental illness on the right-side bar of this Blog site***
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