Kitt O’Malley

Search results for: “bipolar”

  • Mental Health Ministry

    Please feel free to use and adapt this material for faith communities developing a mental health ministry. I originally wrote this as a class assignment at Fuller Theological Seminary – a multi-denominational Christian seminary. Early 2015, I edited the language to make it more inclusive. Honestly, NAMI FaithNet has spent years developing programs, so I would recommend…

  • Obsessive Thoughts

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    We never really know the content of others’ thoughts, if they think in the same way as we do, in words, conversation, images, or impulses. When I was in my twenties, I sought and received psychotherapy for depression, but didn’t know I had bipolar type II disorder. High achievers, those with racing thoughts and workaholic…

  • Siren Song

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    I have heard the siren song of alcohol and marijuana. Craved the quieting of my thoughts, the slowing down. Prescribed medications do help immensely, but I still understand and am wary of alcohol’s hold on me. I have that Irish gene, that propensity to become an alcoholic. I can sense it in me and fear…

  • Thank You Mentors

    When I was an eighteen year old freshman at UCLA, I became severely depressed and suicidal. Although I actively ministered to others – volunteering in the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, for example – I irrationally believed that my family, and in fact the entire world, would be better off without me. During this…

  • The Outsider

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    As some of you may know, I struggle with bipolar disorder. I’m impetuous, speaking without thinking. I feel compelled to say what others won’t. And, by pointing out the elephant in the room, what is clearly obvious but no one dares state, I pay for it. I once again offend, infuriate, and alienate those I…