Posts tagged "Depression"
From The Onion: Come On, Carl, Pull It Together
Everyday / Humor

From The Onion: Come On, Carl, Pull It Together

by David Zahl on Apr 26, 2013 • No Comments

Capping off a refreshingly funny week on the site, a new classic from America’s Finest News Source, ht JD:

That’s right; reports indicate that you, Carl Mendel, 33, of Dayton, Ohio need to wake up, get moving, and pull yourself out of this weird funk you’ve been stuck in for, what is it, sources confirm, three years now? Those familiar with the situation said that we all care about you, Carl, and experts claim it’s time you take charge and break out of this cycle of apathy that’s preventing you from living up to your potential.

“You know, life’s short, Carl,” said…

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George Saunders Doesn’t Really Buy the Humanist Verities Anymore
Literature / Religion

George Saunders Doesn’t Really Buy the Humanist Verities Anymore

by David Zahl on Jan 10, 2013 • 5 Comments

I’m not going to pretend that I’ve read a bunch of George Saunders. But I am going to pretend that I knew more about him than his occasional New Yorker byline and the sense that he was maybe a bit political for my tastes (I was wrong) before I read Joel Lovell’s delightful cover story in last Sunday’s NY Times Magazine. I’ll pretend that I knew he and DFW were peers and that he’s a colleague of Mary Karr’s up at Syracuse, and that his short stories are regularly listed as some of the best of the last decade, or…

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Another Week Ends: Crimson Despair, Teacher Expectations, MJ’s Bad, Improvement Narratives, Neil Young, Neurospeculation, The Master, and Conf Update
Celebrity / Conferences / Education / Grace in Practice / Identity / Music / Psychology / Religion / Suffering / Theology / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Crimson Despair, Teacher Expectations, MJ’s Bad, Improvement Narratives, Neil Young, Neurospeculation, The Master, and Conf Update

by David Zahl on Sep 21, 2012 • 1 Comment

1. An incredibly moving account of “Depression and Despair at Harvard” in response to the suicide of a classmate by Jordan Monge on The Harvard Ichthus. With real vulnerability, Monge touches on the crushing power of expectation, the vicious circle of shame and fear, the grace of defeat, even the toxic and tragic way Christians revert to the Law, post-conversion. It’s a courageous testament to the reality that we are not saved us from pain, but in and through it, ht AZ:

via indexed.com

Admitting my weakness feels like admitting that I am not good enough to bear my own name.…

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The Thing That Eats at Bruce Springsteen and Always Will
Identity / Music / Psychology

The Thing That Eats at Bruce Springsteen and Always Will

by David Zahl on Jul 25, 2012 • 5 Comments

Maybe you’re like me and have tuned Bruce Springsteen out these last few records. A couple songs here and there have grabbed your ear (list at the bottom of the post), but by and large, when you want a Springsteen fix, you don’t reach for anything he’s put out in the past decade. If you’re being honest, you might even admit that Tracks is your favorite thing he’s been involved with since the 80s. You miss the character studies, the wordplay, the exuberance. You liked it better when the politics were less didactic and more clearly rooted in autobiography. You…

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Another Week Ends: Fans and Debtors, Reverse Psychology, Brooks on Merit Power, Batman and Walter White, Spousal Surveillance and Christian Technology
America / Books / Everyday / Identity / Law / Money / Psychology / Science / Sports / Technology / TV

Another Week Ends: Fans and Debtors, Reverse Psychology, Brooks on Merit Power, Batman and Walter White, Spousal Surveillance and Christian Technology

by Ethan Richardson on Jul 13, 2012 • 1 Comment

1. From The Atlantic comes “Why Being an Obsessed Soccer Fan Can Make You Really, Really Happy,” a look into the camaraderie of fandom–which seems simple enough–but not only does fandom give purpose and an unusual chance to breach the confines of self-interest, it also provokes inclusion by way of exclusivity. People have the opportunity, despite their level of fandom, to be fans, together—to identify with something that’s not themselves, together.

The Penn State Nittany Lions Paternoville “White Out”

Trying to rationalize fandom can be a complicated, even futile process. But studies by psychologists have shown that identifying yourself with a…

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Another Week Ends: Celebrity Body Image, Depression Chemistry, the Burden of Secrecy, Fitz Allison, Ryan Gosling, Community, Game of Thrones, and Spiritualized
Celebrity / Film / Humor / Music / Psychology / Science / Suffering / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Celebrity Body Image, Depression Chemistry, the Burden of Secrecy, Fitz Allison, Ryan Gosling, Community, Game of Thrones, and Spiritualized

by David Zahl on Apr 27, 2012 • 5 Comments

1. On Slate, Emily Shire asks, “Should Celebrity Body ‘Struggles’ Make Us Feel Better About Ourselves?” and her insightful little response doubles as quite the treatise on the function of Standards (of beauty etc) and how attempts to allay judgment often backfire, i.e. that the notch on the scale isn’t the issue so much as the scale itself:

Allure’s feature is only one of the latest in a long line of magazine stories about female celebrities “bravely” grappling with their “physical imperfections.” A growing number of publications are trying to pass off barely-clad celebrities strutting their stuff as an inspiring act…

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Light When All Is Dark: Mental Illnesses and Christian Hope
Conferences / Grace in Practice / Psychology / Suffering / Theology

Light When All Is Dark: Mental Illnesses and Christian Hope

by Mockingbird on Mar 23, 2012 • 2 Comments

Continuing with our previews of the breakout sessions at the upcoming NYC Conference (4/19-21), here’s one we are particularly excited about, from esteemed guest presenter Kathryn Greene-McCreight. The session will take place from 2:30-3:30pm on Friday the 20th.

In the words of twentieth-century mystic Adrienne von Speyr, “the first step in learning to love others is the attempt to understand them.” In light of Jesus’ command that we love one another, how might we learn to love those who suffer from the burdens imposed by mental illnesses? First, what are the Major Mental Illnesses? What are their root causes?…

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Romancing Depression (Or Not)
Identity / Psychology / Science / Social Science

Romancing Depression (Or Not)

by David Zahl on Jan 24, 2012 • No Comments

The past few years have brought us a rash of popular studies in evolutionary biology and psychology that seek to assign redemptive purposes to negative emotions such as anxiety, anger and depression. An upside, if you will, such as increased problem-solving skills. Clinicians have, by and large, expressed considerable skepticism about these findings, decrying the “pastoral” naivete of such claims. Dr. Richard Friedman is one such voice, and he offered up a refreshing perspective in The NY Times last week, “Depression Defies the Rush to Find an Evolutionary Upside.”

Dr. Friedman raises a couple of objections that we might share. Above…

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Comics / Psychology / Suffering

A Person with No Arms Trying to Punch Themselves Until Their Hands Grow Back

by David Zahl on Nov 9, 2011 • 1 Comment

“But trying to use willpower to overcome the apathetic sort of sadness that accompanies depression is like a person with no arms trying to punch themselves until their hands grow back.  A fundamental component of the plan is missing and it isn’t going to work.”

Both the cartoon and quote are taken from the terrifyingly brilliant piece “Adventures in Depression” over at Hyperbole and a Half, ht BM & MS. It’ll have you in stitches and tears, maybe even simultaneously.
Clowntime Is Over: Decreased Play Equals Increased Anxiety
Children / Grace in Practice / Psychology

Clowntime Is Over: Decreased Play Equals Increased Anxiety

by David Zahl on Oct 24, 2011 • 4 Comments

Wowza! The Atlantic followed up their recent opus on overparenting-induced anxiety with a report on how decreased playtime is affecting children’s emotional health, “All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed.” It’s sobering, to say the least. There’s not a whole lot to say on the issue that SZ didn’t make pretty clear in his classic post, “Freezing Repetitions and the Spirit of Play in Thornton Wilder’s Theophilus North“ (not to mention the conference talk on which it was based). Only minor note is to say that the authors of the article use the word “control”…

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Think You Got What It Takes? Leadership, Depression, “Madness,” and Empathic Power
America / Identity / Psychology / Suffering

Think You Got What It Takes? Leadership, Depression, “Madness,” and Empathic Power

by Ethan Richardson on Aug 22, 2011 • 6 Comments

What makes the great ones? Ask almost anyone anywhere, and you’ll get the same response: some form of personal exertion, “determination” or “perseverance” or “vision”. Ask almost anyone, and you’ll receive a response rooted in the individual’s uncompromising leadership–they’ll speak of the necessary qualities which brought him/her to helm in a time when he/she was most needed. Others might go so far as to say that this kind of leadership sits within us all, but is only activated when one realizes it, believes in oneself, and confidently makes the strides towards achievement. This mythology speaks for presidents as much as…

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Another Week Ends: Terry Eagleton, Nar-Anon, Crazy Stupid Love, Pottermore, Depression No-No’s, Drones, Speidi & Achtung Baby
Addiction / America / Celebrity / Film / Humor / Law / Music / Politics / Relationships / Religion / Suffering / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Terry Eagleton, Nar-Anon, Crazy Stupid Love, Pottermore, Depression No-No’s, Drones, Speidi & Achtung Baby

by David Zahl on Aug 5, 2011 • 1 Comment

1. Over at PatrolMag, David Sessions posted a terrific interview with British literary critic Terry Eagleton concerning, among other things, “Capitalism and the West’s Existential Crisis.” The occasion for the interview is the release of Eagleton’s new book on Marxism. Of course, Eagleton is not your garden variety Marxist (thank God), and regardless of your political convictions, his reflections are a good companion to the “relentlessly depressing debt ceiling news,” as Sessions memorably puts it. For example:

Sessions: While we’re talking about belief, in your Terry Lectures at Yale in 2008, you described Christianity as both more gloomy than any other…

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And a Depressive Shall Lead Them: Famous Statesmen and the Inverse Law of Sanity
Politics / Psychology

And a Depressive Shall Lead Them: Famous Statesmen and the Inverse Law of Sanity

by David Zahl on Aug 4, 2011 • 1 Comment

A worthy article in The Wall Street Journal by Nassir Ghaemi entitled “Depression in Command,” exploring the mental-health proclivities of great world leaders. Essentially, many of the men who’ve proven particularly adept at leading in/through times of crisis suffered from depression. The two main case studies he cites are Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln. Like most such attempts to discuss the “upside” of depression, Ghaemi flirts with redemptive language, something I’m hesitant to do out of sensitivity to those of us who deal with the condition, i.e. not to diminish their/our pain by suggesting that it’s “for the best.” The…

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Simul Iustus et Schizophrenic: A Quick One from Clinical Theology
Books / Psychology / Suffering / Theology

Simul Iustus et Schizophrenic: A Quick One from Clinical Theology

by Will McDavid on Jul 27, 2011 • No Comments

Dr. Frank Lake was that rarest of beasts: a clinical psychologist, a pastoral counselor, and a learned theologian. Not surprisingly, we consider him a hero. In his landmark Clinical Theology, a textbook for pastoral counselors and theologically serious therapists, he relates classic Protestant anthropology and Christology to the process of psychoanalysis, using real-world case studies (and the Bible) as his foundation. The following is a characteristically profound quote on the simultaneity of human weakness and divine strength, viewed through a clinical lens:

The nature of the help God gives through His Church is to make what cannot be removed, creatively bearable. Paul’s thorn of weakness in the flesh remained. Resting in the power of God,…

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The Seven Sacraments of Harry Potter, Part 3: The Dementor
Books / Film / Suffering

The Seven Sacraments of Harry Potter, Part 3: The Dementor

by Ethan Richardson on Jun 23, 2011 • 2 Comments

We continue our seven-part exploration of the most theologically potent elements in the Harry Potter saga with a look at the nature of, and inspiration for, the dementor–the hellish wardens of Azkaban prison–and the only counterforce that repels them. Just how did Sirius Black escape?! For Parts 1 and 2, click here and here.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin’s hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry’s eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from…

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