July and August 2000
From the Revd. Hugh Trenchard, Vicar.
Dear Parishioners
The year is turning on its own axis and summer is here. We think of all those who have
examinations still to come and those awaiting their results.
In today's world, it is easy to ignore the pressure under which so many labour and to forget that for some that strain has already, or still will, claim lives which have much to both experience and give.
Many people often speak of their confusion over such events, others will dismiss the reality that clinical depression truly is, and comfortably muddle it with a fit of the "blues". How many mothers have wished to scream when severe post-natal depression is met with, "Oh pull yourself together dear!"
Those of you who have no direct acquaintance with clinical depressive illness may find what I am alerting you to both disturbing and challenging. For such a condition there is no quick fix, no one prescription, no one person who holds the key to a condition which can, and often does, paralyse both mind and body. When, for example, when a "pull your self together", is advanced, it is received as both criticism and an expression of ignorance.
Criticism, because "They think it's my fault, that I have some how let myself get to this
point", and ignorance, for the only ever present reality is, "That I am already so crushed by what is happening to me, I am drawn so tightly together that there is little space left even for breathing."
No wonder then that they retreat into silence with an even greater sense of guilt and an
overwhelming and devastating horror that even the closest friend or, commonly, family member,
actually thinks they are, in the kindest of terms, "off their little trolley," or worst of all, that they are going mad.
Please may I dispel any link between "madness" and "depressive illness". Most if not all
sufferers would love to be out of their minds, if only for some peace, some distance between
them and the chemical imbalances which are the cause of depressive illness. To put it simply,
madness is a dysfunction of thought and reality, whereas depressive illness, recently has been
described as "malignant sadness" - that is, a condition as overwhelmingly powerful and real as
any cancerous malignancy and, as in many cases of cancer, as unavoidable and unpreventable.
Sadness is not a feature of life that we expect to feel daily. It is an emotion which results in response to some cause of other - it is a commonly shared and accepted experience. Though a
note of caution - please never tell anyone who has been bereaved, "You'll get over it". You may
be trying to say something else, and certainly not intentionally, dismissing the wonderful bond of love which death most certainly cannot break.
The sadness of depressive illness is like a never ending series of bereavements which never remit their domination of every waking, and if there is much, every sleeping and dreaming thought.
Why? Because its trigger is chemical -a disturbance of the very chemicals which provide the
energy to flee in the face of danger; the feeling of well being after excitement and the balance which allows us to walk upright and function as human beings.
If every sufferer were given a distinctive resin cast to wear ( like a broken arm etc.) attitudes would be so very different.
That is why I celebrate the uplifting things we do as communities, like our fetes and sales, and our pantomimes concerts and the like. All these have such a vital part to play in offering space to find some joy and company particularly for those recovering from depressive illness, but also for the whole community.
Every one of us needs something to look forward to and be part of, and at this you all excel. My thanks to everyone young and not so young who give of time, talent, enthusiasm and simple hard graft.
With every good wish for holidays if you're taking them - or for some rest and recreation if you're not.
Best wishes and God's Blessing,
Hugh Trenchard
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