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6 - Stories of joy and sorrow: spirituality and affective disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

By
Frederic C. Craigie
Edited by
Christopher C. H. Cook ,
Andrew Powell  and
Andrew Sims
Frederic C. Craigie
Affiliation:
Psychologist at the Consulting Faculty, Maine- Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency
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Summary

A 51-year-old government worker recounts:

I was overwhelmed. It seemed like everywhere I turned, things were wrong… things didn't make sense. Finances were bad and I got behind on car payments and the mortgage, and the bank was calling me. My son and his wife were going through a painful divorce, and my wife seemed pretty aloof with me… I guess I was with her, too. There was a lot of pressure at work… two of the people who share the work with me went out on medical leave… they couldn't take it… and that left me holding the bag (and not holding it very well). Migraine headaches… it was pretty bad. My doctor said I was depressed, which I'm sure was true, and set me up with a psychiatrist. I saw her a couple of times. She said she could put me on medicine, but she thought that just getting going walking would be as helpful, and I did that. I don't think I can tell you anything particular that she said, but I mainly just remember that she really seemed to believe in me. She saw something in me beyond what I was going through. I distinctly remember walking one day and realizing that they could take everything away from me, but they couldn't take away my soul. I think that was the point when I really began to turn it around.

Affective disorders the literature predominantly refers to as ‘depression’ are extremely prevalent, with rates of current depression estimated at around 9% in the USA (Centers for Disease Control, 2010) and in Europe (Ayuso- Mateos et al, 2001). Rates of depression in people already in the healthcare system are even higher (Strosahl, 1997). Considered at a population level, these numbers are staggering. Considered at an individual level, there are, as the chapter title suggests, a great number of ‘stories of sorrow’ among us.

Readers of this book do not need to be reminded of the diagnostic criteria associated with affective disorders. From a narrative perspective, however, the suffering that these numbers reflect runs deeper than objective diagnostic criteria. For many people depression involves a profound loss of sense of self, of meaningful personal direction, and of a sense of ‘agency’ and empowerment to live their lives in faithfulness to what really matters.

Type
Chapter
Information
Spirituality and Narrative in Psychiatric Practice , pp. 67 - 81
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Print publication year: 2016

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