Vincent Van Gogh And Bipolar Disorder - consider
One of the most famous painters of all time, Vincent Van Gogh was the epitome of the starving artist. He lived an impoverished life with little success including only ever selling one painting. Vincent Van Gogh was the epitome of the starving artist — a term used to describe an artist who sacrifices material well-being in order to focus on their artwork. Van Gogh led a very difficult life. He is said to have suffered from poverty, depression, bipolar disorder, hallucinations and episodes of derangement as well as epilepsy. During one of these attacks, Van Gogh famously cut off his left earlobe. He committed suicide in at the young age of Only during the final years of his short life was Vincent a professional artist, and even then, a tortured one that was ridiculed by others. He was said to have no obvious artistic talent in his early years of life. Instead as the son of a pastor, he largely immersed himself in religion and had even decided to become a clergyman. Vincent Van Gogh And Bipolar DisorderHaving visited Arles in Southern France, where Van Gogh did much of his painting, and having experienced my own visits to a psych ward, the piece has come to have a special place in my heart. What strikes me the most, however, is the juxtaposition of light and dark.
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There is more brightness in this nightscape than darkness and Gogn light provides a sense of hope for me. My odyssey into mania culminated on my forty-seventh birthday when friends intervened and took me to the emergency room where I was admitted to the psychiatric ward and diagnosed with mania and bipolar 1 disorder formerly known as manic depression. Seeing their misperceptions of reality mirrored back my own misconstrued narrative that mania had created. While the immediate impacts of the experience of mania were life-altering and dramatic, the slower burn of living with undiagnosed bipolar disorder for over twenty years has proved to be the most damaging to relationships, particularly the most intimate Vincent Van Gogh And Bipolar Disorder in my life.
My recovery began with making amends and reconciling with people I had hurt—an ongoing journey that will take time, because trust building is a step-by-step process on the path to reciprocity. My first memories of suicidal thoughts are as an eight-year-old, living in the aftermath of this trauma.
My eighth year was also the first time I acknowledged that I wanted to follow Jesus. My journey as a Jesus follower has taken twists and turns, like the Himalayan mountain paths I grew up walking as a missionary kid.
What is remarkable is that I never gave up on Jesus, and more importantly, I profoundly felt that Jesus Vinncent gave up on me. My experience of faith has been mystical—of being beloved. Now choose lifeso that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…. This motto is both literal and metaphorical, grounding the daily choices that I make to live well with bipolar disorder. I have found that the people of God, as the Church, can be a safe place for those experiencing mental health challenges.
I am so grateful for my faith community in particular, which I feel might well be ahead of Vincent Van Gogh And Bipolar Disorder churches on this front.]
Be not deceived in this respect.