Grace Sparks Comments

Blogger Mark Thwaite should be impressed by the number of comments he received in three days to his post for help on ReadySteadyBlog.

His post on 24 April 2007 reads:

A favour: do any readers know of a good theological/philosophical book on the (Christian) concept of grace? Any tip-offs? Thanks so much!

Thwaite received 12 comments in three days.
Grace seems to be a hot topic.

I posted my response yesterday:

I recommend Stepping Out of Denial into God's Grace Participant's Guide #1 by John Baker and Rick Warren. Warren, as you might know, wrote the mega blockbuster, The Purpose Driven Life.

The Barnes and Nobles’ site includes this quote about The Purpose Driven Life:

With over 10 million copies sold since its release in October, 2002, the book received the ECPA 2003 Book of the Year Award.

Dana Press Blog: Vonneguit, Creativity and Depression

Edgar Allan Poe’s melancholic colors are seen in many other writers. An example is Kurt Vonnegut Jr., writer of Slaughterhouse-Five, who died on April 11, 2007.

On the Dana Press Blog, Nicky Penttila posts an interview with Nancy C. Andreasen, a long-time friend of Vonnegut. “He matched the pattern of having significant mood disorder,” said Andreasen, a neuroscientist.

Vonnegut suffered with depression throughout his life and attempted suicide in 1984. “I would say the general pattern, for him and for most creative people, is they are not very productive when they’re depressed,” said Andreasen. “They do most of their creating after they’ve emerged from feeling depressed.”

Poe described his wrestling with depression in his letters. Similarly, Vonnegut expressed his melancholy in his writing. “But, in a sense, he overcame the sadness, to write,” Andreasen said.

By writing about the ebbs and flows of depression and mania, writers increase knowledge to recognize these forces in us or others. Awareness is part of the cure.

Furious Seasons Blog: New Study on Bipolars Suggests Low Efficacy of Meds

As blogger Philip Dawdy notes in his post on Furious Seasons Blog, the media blinked. Again.

However, bloggers took notice of a 26-week study by The New England Journal of Medicine, published 26 April 2007. The findings confirm what bipolars blog about—the hit and miss effectiveness of medications.

The NEJM study encompassed 179 bipolar patients. Both groups took mood stabilizers. 27% of bipolar patients averted depression for 8 weeks by taking placebos, compared to 23.5% that took anti-depressants.

The poor media coverage of this landmark study underscores the importance of web social networks. As a society, we cannot depend on the media. It took notice, front-page, when mental illness ran amok recently, murdering and maiming. A media frenzy covered the Virginia Tech shootings.

However, Cho Seung-Hui was a victim, as well as those he hurt. He entered a mental facility on a mandatory seven-day hold, because he was in danger to himself and others. The health and school communities failed to take notice. And his neighbors failed to notice as well.

We as a community of human beings have a stake in treating the mentally ill and informing each other regarding scientific knowledge. If we do not collectively help those that have periods where they’re not in control of themselves, we must shoulder the burdens of their railings of madness.