Family to Family

I'll be speaking at a NAMI Family to Family class on Monday evening. This video tells a bit about the Family to Family program--a 12 week educational course for families of people with mental illnesses.

Depression: One in Six

About One in Six Americans Report History of Depression
Income, marital status, gender all appear to play a role

by Brett W. Pelham

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals that 17% of respondents -- or about 40 million American adults -- report having been diagnosed with depression. The results are from more than 250,000 interviews conducted in 2009 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.

Full story from Gallup.com

Facing Facts - Update

Prior to my talk at the Ohio Academy of History -- reprinted here as Facing Facts -- a professor sent me an email saying that he looked forward to hearing it. Of course, he didn't know what "it" was, since nothing had been advertised beyond the mere fact that I was going to be the after dinner speaker.

Following the talk, a gratifying number of people came up to thank me for what I had said. This particular professor did not.

A few days ago I ran across his email and decided to ask what he'd thought of the talk. I had a pretty good idea already. Still, I thought I'd give him a chance to prove me wrong.

His response: "I had known about your condition for a long time so I would have preferred more substance on the Civil War."

Wide Eyed

When I met him on a sidewalk
He was preaching to a mailbox
Down on 16th Avenue
And he told me he was Jesus
Sent from Jupiter to free us
With a bottle of tequila and one shoe
He raged about repentance
He finished every sentence
With a promise that the end was close at hand
I didn’t even try to understand

He left me wide eyed in disbelief and disillusion
I was tongue tied, drawn by my conclusions
So I turned and walked away
And laughed at what he had to say
Then casually dismissed him as a fraud
I forgot he was created in the image of my God

When I met her in a bookstore
She was browsing on the first floor
Through a yoga magazine
And she told me in her past life
She was some plantation slave’s wife
She had to figure out what that might mean
She believes the healing powers of her crystals
Can bring balance and new purpose to her life
Sounds nice

She left me wide eyed in disbelief and disillusion
I was tongue tied, drawn by my conclusions
So I turned and walked away
And laughed at what she had to say
Then casually dismissed her as a fraud
I forgot she was created in the image of my God

Not so long ago, a man from Galilee
Fed thousands with His bread and His theology
And the truth He spoke
Quickly became the joke
Of educated, self-inflated Pharisees like me

And they were wide eyed in disbelief and disillusion
They were tongue tied, drawn by their conclusions
Would I have turned and walked away
And laughed at what He had to say
And casually dismissed Him as a fraud
Unaware that I was staring at the image of my God

– Nichole Nordeman, “Wide Eyed” (1998)

(From Christian Lyrics Online)