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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intellectually puzzling, emotionally disturbing, spiritually uplifting., March 22, 2006
This review is from: Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness (Paperback)
This book looks at mental illness from every angle: the emotional, the psychological, the medical, and especially the spiritual. Sometimes we are plunged into the interior life of the severely depressed patient, at other times we are presented with a theological discussion of demon possession or suicide, and at other times we are introduced to the advantages and disadvantages of various drugs and therapies. The book is filled with scriptures, hymns, prayers, practical advice, website addresses, and frightening descriptions of the feelings and hallucinations experienced by a person with bipolar disorder. It is a short book with not a wasted word. In fact, at times I wished for a little more. I wondered most of all if the author was able to discern why she developed bipolar disorder. Was it a delayed reaction to traumatic events of her teenage years? Were there experiences in her earlier childhood that might have contributed? And is there any hope for a cure? The book does not try to draw these kind of conclusions but instead focuses on ministering to the emotional and spiritual needs of the mentally ill. It will be an encouraging guide for the patient, friends, and family, especially those who are devoutly Christian, because in the end the most impressive thing about this book is the author's resolute faith in the midst of deep suffering.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Possibly a New Classic, May 15, 2006
This review is from: Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness (Paperback)
My hope is that this book will become a little classic. What Greene-McCreight has produced is a compelling work about mental illness (especially depression and bipolar disorder) that is personal but never self indulgent. For the first two thirds of the book she very naturally interweaves episodes of her personal struggle with mental illness with prayer, practical insight, and profound theological reflection. The final third of the work is devoted to sage advice on how clergy and loved ones can help those touched by this affliction, and how to find and evaluate professional help.
The reflections presented here stand firmly within the great historic Christian tradition and thus the work is positioned to have broad and lasting appeal. It is a thoroughly hopeful book, yet unflinchingly realistic about the struggles the mentally ill face and the impact it has on those around them. The book may have been improved still further by occasional light editing for clarity - for example, there is a sentence on p. 113 that I think says the opposite of what was really intended. Also it would have been helpful to mention somewhere that those who suffer from schizophrenia are less often helped by traditional psychotherapy (see, for example, the works of E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.). But this is nitpicking. I am so happy to have found this book!
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
brutal honesty, compassion, hope, January 17, 2007
This review is from: Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness (Paperback)
When Kathryn Greene-McCreight was in grad school (she earned her PhD at Yale) and gave birth to her second child, she experienced her first major episode of clinical depression. Five years later doctors diagnosed her as bipolar. After five hospitalizations, two courses of electroconvulsive therapy, and constantly changing drug regimens, for the past two years she has experienced genuine improvement and stabilization. In this sensitive and sensible book, she grapples with what she calls the "apparent incongruity of that agony with the Christian life," offering theological and pastoral reflections forged in the fires of her experience.
The title for her book comes from the last verse of Psalm 88: "My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, and darkness is my only companion" (KJV). Greene-McCreight addresses most of the questions you might expect. Why does God allow such suffering? Why does He seem to abandon someone who is in such pain, and not answer prayer? Is there a connection between sin and suffering? Just what is personality? What is the relationship between the brain, the mind, and the soul? These are not academic questions, but intensely practical ones for somebody trying to make some sense of profound darkness and disorientation in the light of the Gospel.
I found her chapters on mania, what it is like to stay in the hospital, and how she did and did not "connect" with her various therapists and doctors especially moving. In keeping with her Christian tradition as an Episcopal priest, Greene-McCreight does a fine job at incorporating Scripture, tradition (especially a wonderful selection of hymns, poems and prayers), reason (in this case scientific or medical knowledge), and human experience. She concludes that major mental illness results from a combination of both nature and nurture. As for treatment, she does an excellent job of commending the wisdom of the secular medical community, but also cautioning about times and places "where the chasm between the religious patient and the non-religious therapist simply cannot be bridged." A chapter at the end of the book offers practical advice on how clergy, friends, and family can help a person who struggles with major mental illness. I recommended this book to a friend and also a family member before I had even finished it.
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