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Beyond Blue

The post about my dad was my third revision. In my first draft, I hurt the feelings of a family member whom I very much love. So I revised it. And then I realized that the second revision could hurt someone else’s feelings. As such, I’m learning that this blog can get me into major…

Here’s one clue that I might be heading back into the black abyss of depression: deciding between Ranch or Italian salad dressing has taken me longer than the time it took for the table next to Eric and me to chow down their entire lunch, and I’m saying “um” after every two words (“What I…um…would…

In order to make a decision, you have to perceive a situation correctly. Which is why I’m unable to deliberate when I’m depressed: I can’t see. With the amygdala and hippocampus regions of the brain suffering cell shrinkage and death–spreading a message of panic throughout my entire nervous system–I’m positioned worse than a deer in…

I know I’ve been writing a lot about the Virginia Tech tragedy, and I promise to move on very soon, but today I can’t stop thinking about it because, for me, it points to how ignorant most people are with regard to mental illness. I know this is a very Catholic thought (everything’s our fault)…but…

Of course, even if we had done our best to treat Cho and killers like him, we may have seen the same outcome. Because our hands would have been tied legally. That’s why everyone I know in their twenties wants to become an attorney: they have all the power (and money). More than educators, more…

I sent my “Mentally Ill, Psychopath, or Evil? I Need to Know” post to a hundred or so of my closest friends. I invited my former theology professors and past and present colleagues in Catholic publishing to weigh in on the issue since they are really smart. Here’s what some of them said, which made…

Medical intuitive and renowned author Caroline Myss and I have a few things in common: we both have studied theology, and we were both taught by nuns. But when it comes to interpreting sacred texts, like Teresa of Avila’s classic “Interior Castle,” we must have been in two different classrooms. Because our two castles have…

Click here to read an interesting interview with Caroline Myss by Beliefnet’s Valerie Reiss. Myss talks about her new book, “Entering the Castle,” and says you don’t have to profess poverty, chastity, and obedience to live a deeply spiritual life. (That part, I agree with!) And click here to read an excerpt from “Entering the…

Was Cho Seung Hui–the shooter identified in the Virgina Tech killings–mentally ill or irreparably evil? Did he suffer from a treatable mood disorder, or was he a psychopath unable to be helped? It’s a theological, psychological, and sociological riddle–an ugly one. Even as the genetic studies of mood disorders continue to pinpoint specific genes that…

Here’s how some prominent writers and scholars weigh in on the topic of evil versus mental illness. Thanks to freelance religion writer Andrea Useem for collecting some of these on her blog, ReligionWriter.com. The “National Review Online” published these responses: From Matthew J. Franck, professor and chairman of political science at Radford University: “Professional explainers…
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