Do you struggle with depression? Take heart, and take advice, from a bishop who has been there too..

[Michie]

Most Rev. James D. Conley, Bishop of Lincoln, joined Dr. James Link, a Catholic clinical psychologist based in Bismarck, North Dakota, via Zoom on January 30, 2021, to discuss the relationship between Catholic spirituality and psychology. In December 2019, Bishop Conley requested time away in order to seek assistance in dealing with anxiety and depression, an experience he shares with Dr. Link in order to encourage others to seek help when struggling with mental illness.

Continued below.
There Will Be Light

 

[Gnarwhal]

I remember hearing about +Conley taking some leave to address that, it's a comforting thing to see a bishop handle something like this.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

I'm not chronically depressed, far from it, but I face deep depression once every two years or so. In my worst/ darkest moments Ive actually toyed with the idea of taking my own life. The dread of eternal hellfire has saved me from myself on at least on one occation - Glory to God for scaring me from it!
Its good to know that bishops face similar struggles too - it makes me feel less of an anomaly I suppose.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I had depression for a while. I suppose it was what my psychiatrist would have termed "reactive depression", which is a response to a long term oppressive situation. I think in my case it was triggered by 20 years of oppressive bullying by my father.

I was on Prozac for some years, and the depression gradually lifted. As the psychiatrist put it, "When you've been depressed for a long time, your brain chemistry changes. Prozac gradually changes it back again towards what it should be."

It worked for me anyway. But I also had an advantage in that the psychiatrist was, like me, a Protestant convert to the Catholic faith, and he has a lot of insight into spiritual matters as well as psychiatric. That helped, and I still see him mainly for that reason.

We've both had what he called "double whammies" for example. It's like a very strong breath going through you in waves from head to foot. In my case it happened three times, and three times only. Each time it was used to highlight a specific phrase that someone else was saying at the time (once was a Bible study leader at a Scripture Union camp, and the other two times were when my old Presbyterian pastor was giving sermons in church).

I still remember those three specific phrases to this day for that reason only, and I've heard hundreds of sermons or homilies, most of which I've forgotten entirely.

In the psychiatrist's case, my understanding is that when he was much younger, he was running around an oval, mulling over in his mind if he should join the Catholic Church or not. And that's when it hit him.

There's been some other mutual spiritual experiences as well. It's handy having a psychiatrist who does more than just throw drugs at you.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I might throw in a couple more mutual "spiritual" experiences. I've said ad infinitum that on the night my father died, he appeared in my room. He started with an apology, we talked and argued, and at the end he gave this absolutely terrifying scream and then just disappeared.

I suppose it was about 2.5 years ago when I was visiting the psychiatrist. He remarked "Something strange happened last weekend." I asked him what it was.

He said he'd been going to a Catholic Church near where he lives when they announced a parishioner had died that morning. But she'd also been a patient of his.

He said "She was in the church". He could see her. She was trying to get his attention. Eventually she gave up and moved to the other side of the church, where he thought she may have had family members.

I suppose he didn't start speaking to her as it would seem a bit strange talking during mass to a spiritual being visible only to him. I think God knew he could be trusted with such a spiritual encounter and it would not bother him unduly as he was au fait with spiritual matters. Maybe God could also see I'd splash the story on this forum some time after I'd been told about it. Why the psychiatrist and not someone else? Who knows?

We're not the only ones either. A lady who lives in a retirement village close to me told me she and her eldest daughter had a similar experience. She knew her husband was dying in hospital from a brain embolism. The staff had told her that they were going to turn off the machinery that was keeping him "alive" the next day, and if he couldn't breathe, he'd die.

But that night something white came and sat on the foot of the bed. She said she was freaking out, and wondered what the hell was happening. But then it spoke with her husband's voice - he had come to apologise for the way he'd treated her. The interesting thing was that her eldest daughter had exactly the same experience. He'd been very abusive to her as well. So he was sent or volunteered to apologise to them, as my father did at the very start of our post mortem exchange.

Her husband had died before they'd gotten around to turning the machines off.

I remember reading an online testimony by a Kiwi, who said he'd been told their grandmother had died. He thought about his brother who had been very close to her, but he was in the navy and he couldn't easily contact him. When he did contact him, the brother said he already knew, as the grandmother had visited him and sat on the foot of the bed and they had talked. What was unusual was that the brother was on a NZ naval vessel somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

According to the psychiatrist, recently deceased relatives sitting on the foot of the bed, or standing around the foot of the bed is relatively "common".

There's life after death all right, and there's judgement too, as my father found out to his eternal cost. It was obvious by the way he was facing and his "body" language something was coming for him, and he was terrified to the core.

The psychiatrist believes I saw my father that night, and so did my old Presbyterian pastor (eventually).

 

[Michie]

I might throw in a couple more mutual "spiritual" experiences. I've said ad infinitum that on the night my father died, he appeared in my room. He started with an apology, we talked and argued, and at the end he gave this absolutely terrifying scream and then just disappeared.

I suppose it was about 2.5 years ago when I was visiting the psychiatrist. He remarked "Something strange happened last weekend." I asked him what it was.

He said he'd been going to a Catholic Church near where he lives when they announced a parishioner had died that morning. But she'd also been a patient of his.

He said "She was in the church". He could see her. She was trying to get his attention. Eventually she gave up and moved to the other side of the church, where he thought she may have had family members.

I suppose he didn't start speaking to her as it would seem a bit strange talking during mass to a spiritual being visible only to him. I think God knew he could be trusted with such a spiritual encounter and it would not bother him unduly as he was au fait with spiritual matters. Maybe God could also see I'd splash the story on this forum some time after I'd been told about it. Why the psychiatrist and not someone else? Who knows?

We're not the only ones either. A lady who lives in a retirement village close to me told me she and her eldest daughter had a similar experience. She knew her husband was dying in hospital from a brain embolism. The staff had told her that they were going to turn off the machinery that was keeping him "alive" the next day, and if he couldn't breathe, he'd die.

But that night something white came and sat on the foot of the bed. She said she was freaking out, and wondered what the hell was happening. But then it spoke with her husband's voice - he had come to apologise for the way he'd treated her. The interesting thing was that her eldest daughter had exactly the same experience. He'd been very abusive to her as well. So he was sent or volunteered to apologise to them, as my father did at the very start of our post mortem exchange.

Her husband had died before they'd gotten around to turning the machines off.

I remember reading an online testimony by a Kiwi, who said he'd been told their grandmother had died. He thought about his brother who had been very close to her, but he was in the navy and he couldn't easily contact him. When he did contact him, the brother said he already knew, as the grandmother had visited him and sat on the foot of the bed and they had talked. What was unusual was that the brother was on a NZ naval vessel somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

According to the psychiatrist, recently deceased relatives sitting on the foot of the bed, or standing around the foot of the bed is relatively "common".

There's life after death all right, and there's judgement too, as my father found out to his eternal cost. It was obvious by the way he was facing and his "body" language something was coming for him, and he was terrified to the core.

The psychiatrist believes I saw my father that night, and so did my old Presbyterian pastor (eventually).

My mother had that experience with her grandmother. It’s fascinating.