i love this!

Very informative! It answered a multitude of questions concerning a catholic ex-friend.

And having to be crazy to believe in that stuff to begin with…
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist it.

You successfully walked the tightrope of satire and sincerity, Therese.
Well done!

Hillarious! Well Done!

I love it, too! Great job, and very funny!

Dear Therese,
A wonderful list of great reasons.I love the one about “disgusting meals”!
Keep it coming,Liti

I am happy to see you and many others having fun. We need to enjoy life and see the fun in things, in His love, Roland S.

I love this. I would never have thought to compare retreats and time in the psych ward as comparable “time-outs”! Thanks for the laughs.

I’m not gonna lie, this article is a little offensive to me. I’m Catholic, but I don’t ever think that saying a rosary is a neurotic impulse, and I sure don’t think of my faith as a place for mental illness patients. I agree that Catholicism has many things that other religions don’t have that are extra comforts that other Christian traditions lack, but seeing a vision doesn’t mean one is psychotic.
But the worst part is that you left out the confessional. This is the one thing that should be on this list. People pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars to psychiatrists just to have someone to talk to about their problems. Catholics can go inside that little booth and talk to the priest about whatever problems we have, for free. And with a confession, you have the guarantee that God is present in your struggles.
So, is the Church a place for psychotics, or is it a place where we realize that all of our neuroses have solutions in our faith in Jesus Christ? This article should be re-written to reflect our true faith: not to present our devotions as insanity, but as the very real healing power that our God gives us, for free.

I must defend Therese here, because she does walk the tightrope between satire and sincerity, as Larry wrote earlier. All one has to do is read her blog on a regular basis to see that she walks the walk as she talks with intelligence, humor and humility about suffering and saints, Lent and lithium, Mary and mental illness, grace and God.

TB, I agree with you, wholeheartedly.
Colin, I agree with you, too, about confession being wonderful for the soul but also think God might want us to get outside counseling for some of our issues as well, either by making an appointment in the parish office with a priest or finding a good therapist.
Was watching Charlie Rose interview an actor who stars in a new HBO series called “In Treatment” (can’t remember his name but it had Gabriel in it) and he articulated on how the Catholic Church has had free therapy for ages through our sacrament of onfession/reconciliation. It was good to hear his witness about it.

Oh my Holy Cowabunga!!! That was hilarious! It sure brings back some fond memories. My Grandmother used to travel to work in the city with my Dad.(in one of those little VW beetles) While they driving she used to say her rosary, beads and all. My Dad said it was the best commute because everyone could see her praying and they got out of the way. I mean if she has to say her prayers when he’s driving…he must be a maniac! I also remember my best friend Kathy and I used to put little cartoon commentaries(in bubbles) by the illustrations in our catechism books. ie; Priest blessing kneeling parishioner…”Better get Head and Shoulders .You’ve got dandruff!” C’mon God’s got a sense of humour too!

Just when I think your mental health and spirituality blog could not possibly get any more useless, inane, and self absorbed, you post this. How could you–someone who presents herself as a personal “expert” on living with anxiety disorders–DARE to think this is funny? Not only is it disrespectful to Catholicism (something you continually remind us is the center of your life), but it shows complete ignorance of the suffering of the countless people around the world who struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as manifested by intrusive blasphemous thoughts and religious scrupulosity. Perhaps you don’t realize how miserable it is to be constantly tormented by a fear that you are committing a grave sin because your mind wandered during Mass, or you had a “sinful” thought at an inappropriate time, or you didn’t say your rosary “right” and had to repeat a “Hail Mary” 35 times before you could move on to the next bead, or you committed some other little religious misstep that seems quite irrelevant and silly to someone who doesn’t have OCD, but you can’t “unstick” your thoughts and move past it.
(By the way, Catholics make up a proportionally large number of the people who suffer from religion-based OCD, as do Orthodox Jews–mental health professionals suspect that geographic and economic circumstances may contribute to Muslims being under-diagnosed. It turns out that strong faith in a religious tradition emphasizing strict rituals for prayer, and particularly prayers for purification or contrition, tends to increase the likelihood you’ll have religious scrupulosity issues if you’re already predisposed to anxiety disorders, and isn’t that the funniest thing you’ve ever heard?!)
Your lack of understanding and compassion here is quite telling. Why don’t you imagine what it’s like to have your brain betray you by taking your religion–the very thing that is supposed to give you comfort and peace of mind–and turning it into an inescapable source of worry, guilt, and unhappiness? Perhaps you think you’re “laughing with us, not at us” in this article, but if you ever spent an hour in a therapy group for people with scrupulosity OCD, you’d see why what you wrote here isn’t the slightest bit amusing. I’m sure you wouldn’t dream of writing about how being physically handicapped is great because it means you won’t ever be asked to join the company softball team, yet you seem to disregard this problem, even though it is every bit as legitimate and painfully disabling as any other “functioning” mental illness. Your flippant, silly attitude only contributes to an environment where it is already difficult enough for people who suffer with religious obsessions and compulsions to come forward and find the help they need to get their lives back on track.
I really would expect better content from Beliefnet.

Kyxapka:
I was just going to do a typical Larry “zing” of you and Colin for missing the point (which IMO TB Fan got — half sincere, half sarcastic).
But in truth, you raise an important point that is being brought out increasingly both in Beyond Blue’s blog comment boxes and social networking group, and in the popular culture.
Kyxapka, you say you have crippling OCD. For that, I have deep sympathy. (I won’t say “empathy” for reasons I will explain in a moment.) That would put you in the company of bloggers and authors such as Douglas Cootey (“The Splintered Mind”) and Charles Barber (“Comfortably Numb”), who have also suffered crippling OCD and write about their experiences and how they relate to others with mental illness.
Or, IMO, DON’T (always) relate to others with mental illness.
When I read Barber and Cootey, I see them projecting their experiences with OCD onto the experiences of people with depression. (In Cootey’s defense, he represents that he has a diagnosis of depression along with OCD — though his primary diagnosis is OCD, and IMO his writing does not reflect the depression diagnosis.) And I have no doubt, as I take it was what offended you, people with depression (seem to) project their experiences onto people with OCD.
There is a reason that the DSM-IV has different “axes” for OCD (an anxiety disorder) and bipolar disorder (a mood disorder). They are different diseases with different causes, different symptoms, and different treatments — a few of which may be in common. But the similarities too often get conflated with the differences, as IMO Barber and Cootey certainly do — particularly in their pooh-poohing of the use of medication for people with depression simply because they had bad reactions to the medications they took for OCD.
When I led a support group for people with mood disorders near Rutgers University for most of 2007 (I’ve since moved to another part of New Jersey), people would routinely visit us with borderline personality disorder (a personality disorder) or schizophrenia (a psychotic disorder). The experience would be frustrating for all. They didn’t “get” us and we didn’t “get” them. We all WANTED to related to each other, but we couldn’t always. Simply because, again, we had **different diseases.**
Therese is an expert more on mood disorders simply because that’s what she experiences, and I think most BB readers and commenters have mood disorders as well. (Myself as well, of course.) Granted, she has the full academic resources of Johns Hopkins to call on for expertise (she knows many of the best doctors there for, of course, unfortunate reasons) on other mental health diagnoses, and from my experience tries to include those perspectives in BB from time to time. But yes, BB is probably more user-friendly to those with mood disorders.
Kyxapka, I don’t think your anxiety disorder is anything to laugh about. (Though I do think Therese believes, for mood disorders at least, a sense of humor is essential to coping; I agree with her. Maybe that’s not so true for other mental health diagnoses, I don’t know. Or maybe people with different diagnoses are more sensitive to different types of humor — I know a lot of us on BB with mood disorders enjoy the sarcastic/dark/gallows type of humor.)
But I do believe many of the misunderstandings — on my end, on your end, on Cootey’s end, and on Barber’s end especially given the best-selling nature of his IMO misleading book — would be avoided if we simply remembered that we have DIFFERENT diseases.
It’s like saying someone has leukemia vs. skin cancer. They’re both “cancer,” but completely different diseases treated in completely different ways, with really very little in common other than the label and, not at all to be dismissed, abject human suffering with the potential to be fatal. (There’s where I have deep sympathy with you, of course, Kyxapka, even if I can’t truly have empathy.)
Why should “mental illness” be any less complex and far-ranging?

Therese, you’re right. only I’ve began to put everything together instead of compartmentalizing things and giving them to one saint, then moving on to another. They’re all part of the whole, they’re messengers of light/
About the Pope, it’s not my intention to offend anyone here it’s just that I can’t get myself over the hurdle of remembering that when the current pope wasn’t yet one, he wrote something recommending that the abuse of children by pedophiliacs who became priests, were kept under wraps.
Sorry, I can’t get over many things this guy has also done and said and not that far away. On the other hand I like the fact that he’s a cat lover.

Cosima:
In his previous position under Pope John Paul II, I thought then-Cardinal Ratzinger was an extremely stern, unforgiving man with extremely stern, unforgiving ideas.
Now that he’s Pope Benedict XVI, and I’ve seen more of him publicly, he strikes me as an extremely kind man (personally) but still with extremely stern, unforgiving ideas.

Unlike evangelical Protestants, we Catholics believe that we are saved not only by our faith, but also by our charitable works….
hey..come on thersa–we like and build orphanages, feed the poor and hungry and do social work !!! Evag are great at this kind of stuff….

Colin and Kyxapka, you really did miss the point.
Therese is having fun,a laugh, and using satire and laughing at her own self along with it.
It’s light-hearted –matter of fact, if it wasn’t I would be offended for an entirely different reason.
But how can either of you take the whole post so seriously as to complain?
Anyone who has a crippling mental/emotional problem i suffering, no question.
Kyxpapka if you weren’t religious your OCD would turn something else you do or like(or don’t like for that matter) into a nightmare–because that’s it’s nature.
It’s not about the religion itself in any way, except that
the fact that some religions encourage stricter adherance or teach some tenets rather forcefully,just help to lend themselves more to the disorder. And yes, I can say this because I went to Catholic school,and was raised with both Catholicisim, and with Protestant beliefs too.
I don’t at all think it’s funny that you suffer, and that you have a miserable problem like OCD–I have a touch of it myself and I do sympathize..
However, I have a physical disabilty and I *do* say things in jest like “It’s good sometimes because I don’t have to go to stupid parties or join things I don’t want to anymore!”
I’m laughing at myself, not at others.
Colin, it’s true Therese could have included confession
as one of the reasons why those of us with mental health disorders might benefit from Catholicisim in her funny post.
But come on–you went too far your own self–not Therese..
Confession *is* good for us imo-very true. But it is not free therapy.
A priest, unless he is a psychotherapist as well,is a priest–perhaps a very good one, perhaps good at counseling–but he’s not a psychotherapist.
That idea is a poorly understood conception, a *misconception* that psychology and/or therapy is just bunk or is “common sense” and that therapists are taking advantage of unhappy lonely people.
And I’m sorry Colin, but God is always present in any confession, discussion, therapy session or just plain old talk between friends.God is present there, now, and everywhere.
Fooey.

Therese,
From this post I think you would make a good Pagan. I am a recovering Christian being raised Lutheran. My Mother who I live with and care for is both Catholic & Schizophrenic. She has rosaries, prays to the Saints, goes to Mass….but we Pagans have a God or Goddess for every Saint the Catholic Church has. We light prayer candles and incense the way ya’ll do too so Mother is very accepting of my practice.
I practice an Earth based religion and spend alot more time in prayer and connection to my higher power who I call Great Spirit (walking an Native American path) than I ever did when I was a church going confessed “christian”.
Anyway, if you are not familiar with some of the New Age practices check them out. As I said very similar to Catholicism……
Blessed Be!

Therese,
It was so funny. What you said is true… though I lost my mom who was a devout Catholic. She died on the way to market; it was the fiest day of Santo Nino or the Blessed Child Jesus. I don’t know what to feel. She was hit by an overspeeding motorbike as she was passing the street. Until now, I am overwhelmed. It happened last January. I don’t know what God’s joke that was.
It was a terrible ordeal and is.
Regards and at least I laughed for what you wrote here.
Christine

I thought the article was so healing because laughter is healing. I have schizophrenia and from the inside looking out there is nothing funny in the cosmos.
Laughing at myself is one of the best gifts God ever gave me.
The laughing at myself is the only thing I can hold on to sometimes. It hurts so bad yet if I get together with another schizo friend we have a laugh a thon. That is so healing.

Larry, the point of my post was not to garner sympathy for myself. While I do have severe OCD, scrupulosity is not my primary issue. I’m actually a cleaner/checker, but I do have mild tendencies toward religious obsessions, and was recommended into the latter therapy group as part of a comprehensive treatment program. (If you are a mental health professional, then you are aware that people who have a singular anxiety disorder are quite rare. Most people with OCD manifest multiple obsessive/compulsive symptoms, and almost all of them have co-morbid depression. Patients with OCD often also have other underlying conditions such as bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder, although I personally have not been diagnosed as such.)
It was my experiences in the scrupulosity group that prompted me to write my response here, because until I met those fellow patients, I had no idea of the extent of mental anguish that some people endure because of their dysfunctional attempts at religious devotion. I met good, kindhearted, intelligent people who suffered at the hands of their own thought processes, their own irrational fears of guilt and sin, until they could no longer hold jobs or form healthy relationships. Worst of all, the best therapy money could buy often couldn’t help them. At the time, we were in treatment at a very prestigious facility–with some of the world’s leading experts on OCD–and yet, for many of the patients with religious intrusive thoughts, there was no therapeutic answer, no combination of medications and behavior therapy that made noticeable progress in alleviating their symptoms. Many of them were turned back into the world, medicated but not substantially improve–and, sadly, not for lack of effort on the part of their treatment teams and themselves.
I understand the point you are making about Therese having a different constellation of symptoms than I do, but I do not see that as an excuse for her story. I do not have an eating disorder, but would it be funny if I wrote an essay called “10 Reasons Why Bulimia Is the World’s Best Diet?” I doubt it. Society has already been conditioned to recognize bulimics and anorexics, to understand and empathize with them. If nothing else, my experience in treatment opened my eyes to the suffering of lots of people who had nothing to do with my condition. I don’t use recreational drugs, but I have much more compassion toward heroin addicts than I did before my own experience in treatment. Pain is pain. To lose those little battles, give in to your demons, hate yourself afterward and do it all over again day after day is the same whether you’re smoking crack behind a dumpster in an alley or spending half the night checking and rechecking the lock on the front door of your house because you can’t convince yourself you really locked it–and the battle to escape that vicious circle is basically the same, too.
I understand humor. I very, very much understand how humor can be a wonderful tool for treating with mental illness, and I have ample first-hand experience with how much laughter can mitigate anxiety, especially in the midst of an exposure-and-response-prevention exercise. BUT humor has its limits. Beliefnet links Therese’s articles into their Peace of Mind newsletter, so these articles are going to people across the spectrum of mental conditions, and as a result, I think she has an obligation to post carefully and respectfully. I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that something coming from a multi-faith religious web site and calling itself a “Peace of Mind” newsletter could attract people with religion-based OCD, and, in my opinion, her article treats their illness as a joke.
The time between self-diagnosis of OCD and finding a therapist who actually helps you is estimated to be nine years, and for people with intrusive-thought OCD, it is often longer, because unlike the cleaners and checkers and hoarders who get profiled on “Oprah,” many of them don’t realize their problem has a name and a treatment protocol, and it isn’t just “in their heads” or a failure of their character. I think Beliefnet has a responsibility to be more sensitive to the plight of people who may be coming to them for answers–especially if they want to they present themselves as a support resource for the union of spirituality and mental health.

You left out one thing that I learned to value – The Liturgy. I have worked with multiply handicapped kids and their families and I have learned how much they get from the liturgy. I serve a non-liturgical church – very literate and wordy, but short on the physicallity of worship. There is great power in the motions and sounds and presence of the Spirit in the Roman Catholic, and other orthodox liturgies. It is here that I have discovered the greatest value of the liturgical Churches. The comfort of repitition and predicatability should not be discounted. I may have theological issues with saints and the stuff of liturgy, but I cannot deny the power they have in people’s spiritual lives. These are some of the things I like to try to find ways to adapt for our unorthodox, nonliturgical, extra literate church.
I hope some of my more Liturgical friends from other articles on B’net see this affirmation of the very Church to which I seem to give so hard a time. I affirm over and again that this is some of the best religion has to offer.

ALL OF US ARE A GUEST on THERESE’S BLOG
EVERYONE should feel welcome to comment without feeling attacked by another guest.
We should stop and remind ourselves of this before we start typing; with the end result appearing we were intentionally rude to one of:
*THERESE’s GUESTS.*
There Is No Reason to Behave This Way, Just Excuses.
“A horse tried to convince a tiger it was better to be a horse and that it was wrong to be a tiger. The tiger became angry and bit the horse, whereupon the horse turned around and kicked the tiger.
It is the nature of the horse to be a horse and it is the nature of a tiger to be a tiger. Neither is more or less or more than the other. Both are equal in the eyes of God.”
May God Bless Us All Equally with Love and Compassion..

What’s the punchline on the lawyer? (I loved the post!)

BTW, I think all this back-and-forth is basically about (despite Kyxapka’s denials) having different senses of humor. And, of course, nothing wrong with that, ultimately.
But it’s certainly not about lack of reverence, unless one considers Therese’s career of editing dozens of Catholic-themed books to be lack of reverence.

Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
It requires patience and practice.
If one feels that they are not able to do this, then: Silence Is Golden.
The other guests are entitled to hear what
everyone has to say on any given subject
and in time form our own opinion.

Funny Shnitz. Remember the days when freedom of speech was important? Freedom from religion is important too. But if left up to the sheeple…. sleep y’all, sleep away.

As those in the AIDS fight would say — and it certainly goes for depression, also a deadly disease — sometimes silence is not an option.

There are some people who live 90 years.
And there are some people who live one year 90 times.
Rather than put a label on ourself as:
* Christian
* Jew
* Moslem
* Buddhist etc.
Instead make a commitment to be:
* Christ-Like
* God-Like
* Mohammed-Like etc.
We are always both student and teacher in every encounter of our life.

Mohammed like you say?
Don’t let me start…

> BTW, I think all this back-and-forth is basically about (despite Kyxapka’s denials) having
> different senses of humor. And, of course, nothing wrong with that, ultimately.
Larry, please go back and reread my posts. You don’t seem to be understanding my point. I am not objecting to humor or saying that some subjects can never be joked about. My complaint is with the VENUE. If Therese’s original article had been posted on Fark or McSweeney’s, I assure you I would not have been writing to complain. I don’t go trawling around the Internet, looking for occasions to post long, self-righteous manifestos on how the public should be more sensitive to the mentally ill for my hobby.
When you go to a web site dedicated to humor, there’s a certain risk that the material may not suit your personal taste–but Therese’s blog ISN’T one of those web sites. She’s supposed to be providing a comforting and uplifting resource for people looking for insights into spirituality and mental illness. Being cheeky and offensive to her target audience seems more than counterintuitive to me–it’s in bad taste.

Dear kyxapka,
I, personally, understood the point you were making in your first post as viewed through your eyes. What you said has merit to it. It IS very important to see all sides of an issue.
I would not like you to feel it is necessary to defend yourself … more importantly; nor would Therese.
What I would like you to do instead is:
See the Post Therese wrote on:
MARCH 26th. J.K. ROWLING’S SUICIDAL DAYS
Next go to ARCHIVES:
(You may already know this, but just incase -
on the right of your screen just scroll down)
Then click on APRIL
Continue to APRIL 8th.
“Mr. Dogg, Stress and Depression”
At the bottom under CATEGORIES
Click on J.K.ROWLING’s NAME
Today is too precious to spend one more minute of your time on the past …

Yes, all those classical tenets of Catholicism attracted me when I hung around them. When I had visions I had a choice between thinking I was a loony and Hildegarde von Bingen. I chose Hildegarde. But there are other tenets, like the problems of celibacy and the ordination of women which I find insurmountable. (Not to mention that I had the horrific experience of feeling a priest was coming on to me when I went to him for pastoral counseling!)
But really, as the saying goes – the ways are many – the PATH is ONE. We all see this spiritual journey through our cultural lens. Mine is really a high church Protestantism – or a Celtic Christianity – but whatever WORKS.
It is reassuring that traditionally religious traditions have seen people such as ourselves, who are beyond the norm, as being that way closer to God. (and nowadays, we would add creativity.) Holding on to that traditional sense and its rituals can be something to hold on to when the mental storms descend.

I’m not Catholic but those 10 reason were just to good to pass up on sending it to all my friends…some Catholic and some not!!
Thanks for the laugh.
Nan

Please listen my advice and accaept Islam please research about Islam dont look only with your own media and books please be more objective

i hope you are right and im wrong because your reasons dont make sense ,next time include the real way for salvation,or the saints are going to save you?good luck,keep praying i hope the were as good as my Lord

I have a mother with mental health issues who is a devout Catholic. She uses the church to cover up for all of the issues that have come up as a result of her ‘visions’, paranoia, projecting, violence, etc. We’ve dealt with it all of our lives. All of my siblings have left the church as a result (two have become atheists!). If I didn’t have this back ground I might find your list funny.

I’m not Catholic–I’m a Pagan–but this list was funny and also a bit informative–I didn’t know there was a saint for various mental illnesses! That’s cool!
MV, Beliefnet is supposed to be a place where people can come together regardless of religion and find common ground. Your comment is out of place and also a bit depressing.
Erica, the list was meant to be taken light-heartedly….
Diana, it sounds like you and your family have had a very tough time. I hope you all find peace where ever you decide to look [religon or atheism or something else].

Join my Roman Catholic Site!!!
http://legionnaires.betaboard.ca/index.htm

Accept Islam??? bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah not hahahahahahahahah ISLAM? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This article is insulting and the author, despite her claim to be Catholic, is a very badly educated Catholic. Full of errors- the most important of which is her assessment that,

“Unlike evangelical Protestants, we Catholics believe that we are saved not only by our faith, but also by our charitable works”

Wrong. Please do your homework, read your Catechism. Better yet, leave the theology to the theologians so you don’t confuse and mislead.