By NANCY PATRICK We often find ourselves in situations that irk us in various ways. Most of us want our own way and do not appreciate interference from others. Human beings begin life as selfish little babies who have no inclination to care about others. As we mature, most of us develop a social conscience that allows us to participate
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By NANCY PATRICK I recently watched a 3-part movie entitled The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (Him/Her/Them). Each segment focuses on one point of view to tell the same story of a young couple’s love and marriage. The main character, Eleanor Rigby, disappears both literally and figuratively after the unexplained death of her infant son. She believed the baby’s death had
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By NANCY PATRICK I faithfully watch a PBS series entitled Call the Midwife. Nonnatus House, the setting, serves as the residence for several nuns and nurses who provide midwifery as well as basic medical care for London’s poverty-ridden East End, beginning shortly after WWII. The convent’s leader and main nurse is Sister Julienne. Sister Julienne represents the kind of woman
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By NANCY PATRICK During the Renaissance, several British poets adopted the philosophy of carpe diem (seize the day). Evidently, life’s uncertainties made many feel an urgency to grab any available joy. The popular movie Dead Poets Society conveys the importance of living in the present, marching to the beat of one’s own drummer without regard to what others think or
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By NANCY PATRICK People who don’t know me well consider me smart, energetic, outgoing, upbeat, and quite nice. I know this because others have told me, but sadly, these assessments describe the veneer that covers the melancholia I fight daily. I have written about depression before, thus establishing the gravity of a condition inexplicable to those immune to it. However,
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By NANCY PATRICK Although my husband Mike and I married very young, we had the good sense to wait seven years to have a family. We managed to earn our undergraduate degrees and get our careers started before having our only child. Naively, I believed that I could plan and orchestrate my family’s future. As many parents, I focused my
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By NANCY PATRICK Many years ago during an especially bad period of depression (a condition that has plagued me my entire life), I went to a therapist for some guidance. She introduced me to the concept of co-dependency, an unconscious psychological game in which family members involve each other in emotional blackmail that holds them hostage to each other’s needs.
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