In an often viewed TED talk, artist Phil Hansen talks about “embracing the shake.” It is a great message, one truly worth watching or reading. In the face of nerve damage that left his hand shaking too badly to make his preferred art, he learned to embrace this limitation, and it led to more creativity than he could have imagined. His message of embracing limitations should ring especially true for us as followers of Christ, and may be particularly hopeful for those facing mental illness. Read More →
By our nature as humans, we need others. Giving and receiving help is as human as breathing. God looked at Adam and said (essentially): “You’re gonna need some help.” So He provided Adam with a helpmate. Across our lifespan, we turn to others for help: to our parents for nurturing, our teachers for education, our doctors for all our physical ills. We turn to spouses and best friends to soothe us during the bruises of life, and we turn to our church community to revive our weary, broken, wayward souls. We do not think twice about seeking help from these people, but there is one person from whom many people still hesitate to seek help: a therapist (a.k.a psychologist, psychotherapist, or counselor). Read More →
Raising Little Angels is a monthly post about the struggles, joys, confusions, and questions that come with parenting. The tongue-in-cheek title refers to the fact that parenting often feels like anything but an angelic endeavor. After all, we don’t want little angels; we want little saints!
This is a guest post by Becky Needham, a friend of PsychedCatholic, and a personal friend. Becky is a wife and stay-at-home mom writing from Catonsville, MD. She and her husband Trevor have been married eight years and have three children, John Paul, Clare and Joshua. In between homeschooling and working in college campus ministry, she loves music, DIY home projects and enjoying the outdoors with her family.
My husband Trevor and I have been at this parenting thing for 
six years now. And even with all our know-how, a degree in Theology and Religious Education, teaching religion in our home school co-op, and three kids later, you’d THINK our own family prayer time would be a walk in the park by now. I can lead everyone ELSE’s kids in prayer just fine. Religion class, vacation Bible school, youth retreats – you name it, I’ve done it. But leading our kids in prayer has always been a bit more challenging, if not altogether unholy. Our six year old, the rule-follower, is fine. Angelic, really. Heck, he’s the one actually leading prayers half the time while Trev and I are distracted trying to get the other two kids to just sit down for five seconds. John Paul will be perfectly singing the Salve Regina while Joshua and Clare are launching themselves off the coffee table into the couch or the dog – or better yet, into one of us. Knees first. Unfortunately, the family activity that’s supposed to gather us together, calm our hearts and lead us all to bed in peace, instead leaves Trev and I shaking our heads and wondering if anything we’re doing is really worth it in the end. We sure don’t feel any holier ending the day yelling at everyone to just “Sit still and pray, jeepers!”
Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian, a parish community in Washington, DC. He attended Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary and was ordained in 1989. Msgr. Pope writes thoughtful, relevant, (near) daily blog posts for the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, which can be read here. His pieces are frequently carried by New Advent and Big Pulpit.
Monsignor graciously agreed to contribute a personal piece detailing his own journey to psychological and spiritual healing through the process of overcoming anxiety and depression.
When I was growing up older folks often spoke of a “mid-life crisis.” Hitting forty was usually the critical period they had in mind. These days I’ve noticed it hits a lot sooner. Maybe it’s because we live in a “youth culture” that forces the questions of aging and being successful a lot quicker. Maybe it’s just the stress. But these days, there’s just something about the mid-thirties that hits a lot of folks. I was no exception. My mid-thirties were difficult years for me—years filled with anxiety and self-doubt.