Mar 6, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
Last week we talked about narcissism as a form of mental illness, which led to a thoughtful conversation on the challenges of dealing with narcissists. We can all agree there are plenty of types of “difficult” people beyond just narcissists, however! I’ll bet if you paused right now to see how long it takes you to come up with the name of one “difficult” person you’ve had to deal with… actually, try that right now and let me know how long it took you.
I came up with two names in less than two seconds, and just thinking about them started to make me feel tense. And that’s the point of this week’s discussion: how can we deal with difficult people without it feeling so painful? We’ll watch a helpful, short interview with an expert who sums up the guidance for psychologists quite well. I think the advice we hear in this interview will resonate in some ways, and challenge our assumptions in others.
Our warm-up question for this week:
What’s one thing you cherish about spring?
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 29, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
I love when our Stronger Together discussions take us down a different path than we planned, or open up new topics in unexpected ways. In last week’s conversation on apologizing and gratitude, we briefly considered an interesting exception: what about narcissists?
To be clear, there are narcissistic behaviors we all have exhibited from time to time, as well as people who are pretty narcissistic in general. Then there’s narcissism to a degree that is a form of mental illness: Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or NPD. Our conversation this week will focus on NPD–how we can understand it better and empathize better with people affected by it. We’ll watch a video that describes the diagnostic criteria for NPD as well as some of what the symptoms “hide” in the person experiencing this form of mental illness.
Remember…we all have a bit of narcissistic tendencies. That’s normal and part of what makes us human!
Our warm-up question for this week:
Tell us about a truly great vacation or trip you took. What made it so special to you?
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 22, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
If only it were easier to say “I’m sorry.” If we could just be better at apologizing — truly apologizing — think of how much easier it would be to move past conflict, maintain loving relationships, and build trust. Probably there’s a good reason why saying “I’m sorry” is inherently difficult.
If it’s difficult to apologize, does that mean we can get better at it? That’s one of the things I’m hoping to figure out in this week’s conversation! We’ll watch a brief video titled, “A perfect apology in three steps” (it’s only three steps, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy). In it, the speaker talks about how to craft an effective apology, and how this turns us toward a place of gratitude. If you don’t have time to watch the video beforehand, no apology is necessary. 😉
Our warm-up question for this week:
What’s your favorite summer Olympics sport to watch?
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 15, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
It’s tempting to think of mental illness in terms of diagnoses, and to some extent it makes sense to do so. After all, by necessity there are commonalities in how people experience clinical depression or any other named health outcome. The problem is that there are wide ranges of experiences “within” a diagnosis; how one person experiences and recovers from clinical depression can be dramatically different from the next person.
This is yet another reason why it’s so important to anchor our understanding of mental illness on the perspectives of those whose lives are touched by it. Through this lens we can begin to appreciate how much diversity there is in mental illness experiences and outcomes. We’ll get a chance to do just this as we watch and respond to a video titled, “Mental Health: In Our Own Words” during our conversation this week. I hope to see you there!
Our warm-up question for this week:
Imagine you were going to take a cross-country road trip anywhere in the world…where would you go, and what kind of vehicle would you want to travel in?
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 8, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
We’ve talked about forgiveness on multiple occasions, and each time it proves to be a tricky but interesting topic. Maybe that’s because we realize how important forgiveness is, but also how challenging it can be. This week we’re going to explore an important dimension of forgiveness in mental health: forgiving ourselves.
For inspiration, we’re going to watch a brief video on a rather stunning act of forgiveness…though not on mental health per se. As you watch the video try not to focus just on whether or not you would forgive the same way the woman in the video eventually does. Instead, put yourself in the perspective of the young man who admits he wasn’t ready to forgive himself. Can you relate to him in this way?
Our warm-up question for this week:
Tell us about a time when you felt overcome by something so beautiful or wonderous that it stopped you in your tracks.
See you soon,
Alex
Feb 1, 2024 | Mental Health Ministry, Stronger Together Support Group
Hello friends,
Are you one of those people with a robust inner monologue? Or maybe you hear an inner voice only occasionally, but when you do it can be particularly helpful (or hurtful). I think we all have an inner voice, but maybe some of us hear it more often or more easily than others.
In our conversation tomorrow we’re going to talk about the conversations we have inside our own heads. We’ll watch a helpful video on overcoming bad inner voices and share our own experiences navigating our inner dialogue. Invite your Jiminy Cricket for what is sure to be an engaging discussion!
Our warm-up question for this week:
If you could record a 10-second audio clip for your 20 year-old self knowing that they would only be able to hear it one time, what would you say?
See you soon,
Alex
