Category Archives: Pastoral Office

natural remedies, Pastoral Office, pharmacology

Prozac a fake?

8 Comments

The big news today is about Prozac. The granddaddy of modern anti-depressants, Prozac has been around in some form or another since 1972. But today a study was released claiming that Prozac is no more effective than a placebo.

I’m sure this will provide lots of ammunition for everyone that thinks drugs are basically evil. Personally, I recognize the two edged sword which is drugs. At the same time, though, amongst pastors it is WAY more likely to be under-medicated or not medicated at all than to be overmedicated.

So I don’t find this announcement as good news at all. I think it will contribute to a lot of people not getting the help they need, whether it be medical or alternative.

Bummer.

-DMR

anxiety, Pastoral Office, Preaching

Anxiety, Depression and Preaching

16 Comments

I’ve seen a number of comments about the ongoing anxiety of preaching. I know preachers who throw up before every service. I know preachers who haven’t loved it for years. Preaching, if it is done right, is profoundly self-exposing. Preachers who know their people must know themselves, the depths of their own sin. These who preach to their congregation best probably preach to (sometimes against) themselves first.

So what does this mean for the preacher who has a mental illness like generalized anxiety disorder or clinical depression? Therein lies the rub. Continue reading Anxiety, Depression and Preaching →

anxiety, depression, family, Pastoral Office, stress

These gray and latter days….

Leave a comment


I hate the gray of winter. I hate it I hate it I hate it. There is something about the color gray that is just evil. Neither black nor white nor color, it is a continual reminder of the mush of our lives, and of how one thing blends into another so much that you can’t tell the difference.

Life. Family. Work. Play. For many they are hard to tell apart. And the busier we get the more those lines become blurred and (ugh) gray. Add to that a little obsessive compulsive tendencies and the easy possibility of becoming overwhelmed, and you have a recipe for an interesting month.

Most pastors will tell you that December and January are when most of the family problems come to a head in the parish, and that it is the time when everyone’s difficulties rise to the surface. This, too, has the effect of graying and mushing everything together, especially for the pastor.

Pastors (all bravado notwithstanding) are generally compassionate people. Pastors have a tendency to put on a tough exterior more as a self-defense mechanism than anything else.

I’m not really good at mechanisms right now. I take everything personally when I am under stress, even things that aren’t directed at me. It drives me batty, which also makes me crazy.

So what do you do when life is gray, stress is high, and things are crashing in upon you? I’d like to hear from you.

-DMR

PS Sorry this isn’t more upbeat and happy. Some posts are just like that.

anxiety, depression, family, Pastoral Office, stress

These gray and latter days….

5 Comments


I hate the gray of winter. I hate it I hate it I hate it. There is something about the color gray that is just evil. Neither black nor white nor color, it is a continual reminder of the mush of our lives, and of how one thing blends into another so much that you can’t tell the difference.

Life. Family. Work. Play. For many they are hard to tell apart. And the busier we get the more those lines become blurred and (ugh) gray. Add to that a little obsessive compulsive tendencies and the easy possibility of becoming overwhelmed, and you have a recipe for an interesting month.

Most pastors will tell you that December and January are when most of the family problems come to a head in the parish, and that it is the time when everyone’s difficulties rise to the surface. This, too, has the effect of graying and mushing everything together, especially for the pastor.

Pastors (all bravado notwithstanding) are generally compassionate people. Pastors have a tendency to put on a tough exterior more as a self-defense mechanism than anything else.

I’m not really good at mechanisms right now. I take everything personally when I am under stress, even things that aren’t directed at me. It drives me batty, which also makes me crazy.

So what do you do when life is gray, stress is high, and things are crashing in upon you? I’d like to hear from you.

-DMR

PS Sorry this isn’t more upbeat and happy. Some posts are just like that.

book reviews, depression, Pastoral Office

Depression in the workforce

Leave a comment

The Washington Post recently reported on a new government study on depression in the workplace.

This article is worth reading, and the report is worth considering. I also find it noteworthy that it is “Personal Care and Service” that is the highest percentage, with “Community and social services” being third.

They obviously don’t have a category for pastors, nor am I aware of any major studies on this topic per se. However, the book Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry is a useful study, but it doesn’t really address the question.

When will our church bodies wake up to the fact that clinical depression is real, debilitating, and getting worse every year for pastors? Everyone else seems to know this!

-DMR

anxiety, depression, Pastoral Office, stress

The Eye Exam

8 Comments


It always amazes me what can set me off or make me a nervous crazy wreck. For the most part I’ve been doing well, busy with projects and continuing to ruminate on the book. But today I had a weird experience. I had an eye exam (hence I am four feet away from the monitor). This is really a pretty benign experience, but it left me a complete basket case. I was nervous, figity, fearful, and felt that the world was closing in on me. How is it that such a simple thing as an eye exam can set this off?

Last week I had a similar experience with a hospital call. It was routine as far as hospital calls go. The Sacrament, some hymns, the Gospel of healing to a hurting so. It’s all good. But it left me spent far more than I would expect from one hospital call. I was highly agitated afterwards, and it drove me bonkers.

Why is it that such simple things can be so very hard and take so long to recover from?

-DMR

depression, Pastoral Office, shut-ins

Paralyzed

3 Comments


So after my last post, the next day I was ready to make some calls. I had cleared the plate. I had time. I had my brand new very kewl communion kit ready for its maiden voyage. The weather was nice. It was a perfect day. I even had a chiropracter appointment so that I was “well adjusted”. Things looked just right.

After my appointment I got into the car to go make my calls.

But I couldn’t move.

I was stuck. Paralyzed. I stared at the steering wheel for 20 minutes, willing myself to go give the Sacrament to these people who are waiting so patiently for it. I prayed. I berated myself. I tried to talk myself into it being “no big deal”. Nothing worked. My hands wouldn’t leave the steering wheel to start the car.

Eventually I can to the realization that this was not going to happen that day, so I drove to a wifi coffeeshop to waste an hour and a half before I had to pickup my kids. There I sat, feeling horrible for being such a lousy pastor. Who can’t even go see their shutins? I don’t even have that many, and they are all really quite pleasant (not always the case, to be fair).

Blech. I hate that. Depression can stick you into places and situations where you really don’t want to be. This is a prime example.

Sometime you can’t do the things you want or even need to do. You just can’t. Call it a mental block, a massive energy drain, I don’t know. But this has been my experience with certain events with great consistency.

Upon further reflection, here are a few observations about such events, which are all too common for the depressed:

  • If you can’t do something, you can’t do something. It’s that simple. It’s not a matter of sin, failure, dislike for people, or whatever. You just can’t do it.
  • Most people will understand, and for the some that don’t, there is nothing you can do about it. So don’t worry about them.
  • Christ fulfills His Office through the weaknesses of His pastors. In other words, even if your shutins have a drought of the Sacrament for a time, they are still being fed the Word of God, and Christ remains with them.

Be of good cheer, my friends. Our Lord, who will not abandon you, will not abandon those whom you serve. No matter what may come.

depression, Pastoral Office, shut-ins

Paralyzed

3 Comments


So after my last post, the next day I was ready to make some calls. I had cleared the plate. I had time. I had my brand new very kewl communion kit ready for its maiden voyage. The weather was nice. It was a perfect day. I even had a chiropracter appointment so that I was “well adjusted”. Things looked just right.

After my appointment I got into the car to go make my calls.

But I couldn’t move.

I was stuck. Paralyzed. I stared at the steering wheel for 20 minutes, willing myself to go give the Sacrament to these people who are waiting so patiently for it. I prayed. I berated myself. I tried to talk myself into it being “no big deal”. Nothing worked. My hands wouldn’t leave the steering wheel to start the car.

Eventually I can to the realization that this was not going to happen that day, so I drove to a wifi coffeeshop to waste an hour and a half before I had to pickup my kids. There I sat, feeling horrible for being such a lousy pastor. Who can’t even go see their shutins? I don’t even have that many, and they are all really quite pleasant (not always the case, to be fair).

Blech. I hate that. Depression can stick you into places and situations where you really don’t want to be. This is a prime example.

Sometime you can’t do the things you want or even need to do. You just can’t. Call it a mental block, a massive energy drain, I don’t know. But this has been my experience with certain events with great consistency.

Upon further reflection, here are a few observations about such events, which are all too common for the depressed:

  • If you can’t do something, you can’t do something. It’s that simple. It’s not a matter of sin, failure, dislike for people, or whatever. You just can’t do it.
  • Most people will understand, and for the some that don’t, there is nothing you can do about it. So don’t worry about them.
  • Christ fulfills His Office through the weaknesses of His pastors. In other words, even if your shutins have a drought of the Sacrament for a time, they are still being fed the Word of God, and Christ remains with them.

Be of good cheer, my friends. Our Lord, who will not abandon you, will not abandon those whom you serve. No matter what may come.