Category Archives: medications
Lithium: Help for the Afflicted
Lithium (brand names Eskalith, Lithobid, Lithonate, and Lithotabs) is the most widely used and studied medication for treating bipolar disorder. Lithium helps reduce the severity and frequency of mania. It may also help relieve bipolar depression. Studies show that lithium can significantly reduce suicide risk. Lithium also helps prevent future manic episodes. As a [...]
As Risky as Cigarettes? A New Study on Sleeping Pills
“He gives to his beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:2 At Brokenbelievers.com, our focus is mostly on the spiritual realities of being disabled, and yet a believer in Jesus. We honestly need these things as a man needs air. They are things that we look into, and are crucial to our spiritual survival. Yet sometimes we encounter something on [...]
Our Great Physician
I wrote this poem the other day for Thankful Thursday on my own blog. Knowing that many who visit Broken Believers struggle with illness and pain, I thought this would be good to share here as well. There are plenty of cracked clay pots around this place, and God is in the business of using [...]
I Don’t Have the Slightest
“Ah yes, the Shroud of Turin! We will have to dry clean it before we return it.” Inspector Clouseau, (Upon discovering stolen artifacts) in The Pink Panther 2 I honestly think that our bumbling attempts to follow Jesus are entertaining angels who watch our efforts and shake their heads in astonishment. ” Did you see what Bryan [...]
Antidepressants for Believers?
What do you think of Christians taking antidepressants? By John Piper, given on March 30, 2010 The following is an edited transcript of the audio. What do you think of Christians taking antidepressants? I have been on them and have been accused of not relying on God. That relates to an earlier question about how any [...]
In Pursuit of Happyness
By CARONAE HOWELL, From the New York Times, dated July 20, 2009 I’m the kind of woman who spends entire days thinking of nothing but birds: woodcocks, goldfinches, kingfishers. I look for loons everywhere I go. Sometimes I find herons in Central Park and they are mysteries. There is one thing in this world that [...]
Give Us This Day, Our Daily Meds
My particular issue is with Bipolar 1, with psychotic features. I have social anxiety which factors in as well as weird delusions. The anxiety and delusions are pretty much one and the same. They are often the things that will touch other people, while the rest is less obtrusive and can be hidden. I have [...]
What Do I Need?
“The depressed don’t simply need to feel better. They need a Redeemer who says, “Take heart, my son, my daughter; what you really need has been supplied. Life no longer need be about your goodness, success, righteousness, or failure. I’ve given you something infinitely more valuable than good feelings: your sins are forgiven.” Elyse M. [...]
The Hopelessness of Mental Illness
I’ve seemed to have settled down into a blackness that defies all explanation. I’m dodging being hospitalized, and they can’t put me where I don’t want to go. Hopelessness swirls me around and I feel like a bug going down a drain. Thoughts of suicide are becoming more concrete and despair is becoming a frequent visitor. [...]