That makes my little Passionist heart go thumpety thumpety thump. <3

I don’t know what you know about being crazy, but I do know you can’t out crazy Stacy McCain

Your doctor should. Nobody else.

Ah, we can only try! But at least he’s interesting, and that makes it okay by me.

Emotions are not really voluntary. No one really has control over their emotional reactions. When the brain chemistry is off, emotional reactions can intensify. Depression isn’t a weakness of the will. What we choose to do with it when it happens is where our will comes in. Unfortunately, for those with illnesses that also affect reasoning, bad choices are more likely unless one has faith that it’s best to hold onto objective reality instead of what your brain is telling you to do. Adam Lanza may have been unaware of the objective reality that he should not ever kill anyone even if his brain told him he should. But Asperger is not a disorder that causes delusion. It may be that he just was never brought up to believe that it is ALWAYS wrong to kill innocent people.

My favorite Ayn Rand quote is this one:

Production is the solution to the problem of survival

(I think it’s from “Philosophy, Who Needs It?”)

I maintain the same holds true for those battling mental “illness” (a term of pop psychology that covers far more ground than it ought). I would modify it thus:

Production and creative effort are the solution to the problems of mental distress.

The desire to be a part of something, especially something bigger than yourself, is a very common human trait. The things that tend to depress our emotional states, our general sense of happiness, are often related to how others perceive us, or how we think they perceive us, and/or our sense of accomplishment.

Forward motion, even in small increments, is a way out of the despair. Put on some music, and move.

It won’t work for everyone, because more serious problems will require intervention or medical help (and some folks prefer to produce for their own benefit, without regard to what others think—so they have to be their own gauge of success). But depression follows us all, to some extent. Those lucky enough to have it only occasionally can benefit from ordinary motion, creation, or production.

All we can hope to do is walk in his deranged shadow.

Indeed. I called in sick to work the day after the election as a mental health day, because I figured there was no sense in inflicting my foul mental state on my coworkers.

Glenlivet if you like Scotch, Jameson if Irish, Maker’s Mark if you’re into Bourbon. A friend likes Barnacourt 5 Star. All will cure what mentally ails you.

Thank you dear friend for your pointer to Msgr. Pope’s article and for your steady voice of reason about mental illness issues. You and yours are ever in my prayers and daily Mass intentions.

Blanton’s is the World’s Finest Bourbon.

Fact.

Try it and you’ll thank me later. I was never much for straight bourbon until someone gave me a glass.

The problem is that society – and it hasn’t been just the USA, all of Western civilization seems to have undergone the same process – went from one extreme to another without much thought, research, or discussion of the consequences.

Previously, we tended to lock people up too quickly, sometimes just for being too quirky or inconvenient to deal with, when that should be the last resort for treatment. Then, suddenly – spurred by a couple of sweeping court decisions – we went to the opposite extreme of not treating the mentally disturbed in a confined environment until after they had committed some crime or other act proving themselves dangerous.

Those fellows homeless on the street muttering to themselves may not be a danger to others but they certainly aren’t just “being free” – take the chap in NYC the cop bought new boots for. It turns out the man has an apartment, paid for by his disability, he just doesn’t stay there. And a week later he had lost his new boots and had no idea how, when, or where.

I will. For a reasonable fee. Sent through PayPal.

I have found that productive work does indeed lessen depression.

You’re welcome.

Putting in Churchill references comes easy to me, as I am he reincarnated!

The problem is that society – and it hasn’t been just the USA, all of Western civilization seems to have undergone the same process – went from one extreme to another without much thought, research, or discussion of the consequences.

Scientific method: Change one thing and observe the result.

Political method: Change everything and blame your predecessor.

Pascal. Interesting fellow. Chose faith over “negative reason” (my term for it) based on the impeccable logic that it couldn’t hurt, and might be the safer course.