Christian recording artist, author and speaker, Tammy Trent, joins Molly Messer to candidly share her testimony of the power of God’s restoration, healing, and hope after the tragic death of her husband while on a mission trip. After stepping away from her career for a year, Tammy returned to the stage as a featured speaker and performer at the Extraordinary Women’s Conference and subsequently joined both the Women of Faith Tour for 4 years and The Revolve Tour for teen girls for 2 years. Her bold decision to transparently share her testimony changed the trajectory of her life and career as she has ministered to women of all ages across the globe. In this interview, Tammy shares her journey and how God’s love and faithfulness can bring healing in any circumstance. For more information about Tammy, her music, books and tour information visit www.tammytrent.com.
Photo credit: www.tammytrent.com
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Mental Illness and Stigma
I have bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness) and am very open and transparent about it. It is not a character defect, it is a brain illness. Yet, society still looks upon mental illness with condescension and judgment. This is wrong.
While I realize that I may not be able to change the world by writing one blog, I can try to change some of that stigma by sharing some of my own thoughts – from the perspective of someone who has a mental illness.
First of all, the key to shifting the paradigm of societal misperceptions about mental illness is to recognize the very simple truth that, in most cases, it is caused by a natural dysfunction of the brain. The brain is an organ in our bodies, as are the heart, lungs, liver, and pancreas. It is the ONE organ that the medical field understands the least yet, it controls everything about us; our speech, our behavior, our thought process, our physical movement, and our emotions. Herein lies part of the problem, because the brain controls these vital parts of our lives, we see the symptoms in a way that causes others to fear, to judge, and to misunderstand.
With that fact in mind – that mental illness is actually a “brain” illness – here is an analogy that may provide a little insight. Imagine that I have cirrhosis of the liver and that everyone could see that diseased organ. A diseased liver is a hideous sight, so most people would automatically be uncomfortable, repulsed, look away, and perhaps be fearful of me; they would perhaps focus on how it looks more than what I have. No one (except a doctor or coroner) wants to see such a horrible thing – it is uncomfortable, it evokes emotions that are negative and eventually results in a negative response from people.
How is a brain illness different? You may be able to come up with all sorts of reasons why, but here is more food for thought. Think about what types of brain illness are considered more “socially acceptable” – Alzheimer’s, dementia, PTSD, autism, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Traumatic Brain Illness, and learning disabilities. In response to these examples, one might say they cannot help it; “something” caused those brain illnesses.
“Something” also causes brain illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, mood disorders, schizophrenia and various other types of mental illnesses. Although not completely understood, they are recognized by the medical field to be caused or influenced by things such as genetics, trauma, natural changes in brain chemistry and substance abuse. Again I ask, how are these different from the “socially acceptable” brain illnesses that are referenced above?
Like it or not, society must begin to recognize mental illness for what it is – an illness of the brain. I recognize that stigma about mental illness exists and will for some time, but it is only by being transparent and informing others about it that this stigma will be reduced.
People who do not have a brain illness, will never fully understand, but are those who do have such illnesses beyond some level of human compassion? Everyone is affected by mental illness, either directly or indirectly themselves, through a relationship or just by the “strange” person wandering the streets lost in their own mind. Many people with brain illnesses do not have a voice simply because they are so ill, which is why it is so important to be a voice for them.
Finally, consider this. Many of the things that we experience and have today, would not exist were it not for people with brain illnesses. You see, people with some of these conditions also have an amazing ability to create, to write, to compose, to imagine the impossible, and to think critically – to change and affect society in positive ways. Here a just a few people with mental illness who have contributed to life as we know it:
POETS
Emily Dickinson
T.S. Elliot
Victor Hugo
Walt Whitman
Edgar Allen PoeWRITERS
Hans Christian Anderson
John Bunyan
Charles Dickens
Isak Dinesen
Ralph Waldo Emerson
William Faulkner
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Herman Melville
Tennessee Williams
Ernest HemingwayCOMPOSERS/MUSICIANS
Sergey Rachmaninoff
Peter Tchaikovski
Irving Berlin
Cole Porter
Elton JohnARTISTS
Vincent Van Gogh
Paul Gauguin
Michelangelo
Georgia O’Keeffe
Jackson PollackOTHERS
Leonardo Da Vinci
Isaac Newton
Abraham Lincoln
Charles Darwin
Thomas Edison
Albert Einstein
Walt Disney
Buzz Aldrin
Robin WilliamsSo, the next time you think of “mental” illness, think of some of these people and the contribution that they have made to our world. God created them in an amazing way so that they can help us see and understand our world in unique and wonderful ways.
Would you show them any less respect? Would you turn away if one of them were someone that you loved? Would you reach out to them if they were on the verge of committing suicide or carrying out a horrific act? Would you have any less compassion for them? My prayer is that the answer is no.
If you have a mental illness, you have probably experienced stigma, as have I. My opinion is this, if someone places stigma on me because of my mental illness, then he or she probably should not be around me; I don’t want that to interfere with how I live my life. Just like any other human being, I deserve compassion and acceptance, not judgment and disdain. This will likely result in people I love and care about turning away from me because they do not understand.
I will not allow that to bring me down, cause me question God as to why He made me this way, or think less of myself. I have lived that life and refuse to do so anymore. I am unique, wonderful and worth knowing and loving – with or without my illness.
Psalm 139:13: “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it.”
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Unsinkable
Many years ago, I asked my mother how she decided on my name. In great anticipation, I waited for some profound meaning or story. Instead, the answer was a disappointment. “Oh, I don’t remember! You were the 4th kid!” My heart sank. Even my own mother couldn’t remember what was special about my name.
Still, I wondered about the answer to that question. So, during a conversation with my dad, I mentioned this encounter and my disappointment with my mother’s response. He immediately said, “Well, I named you! Maybe that’s why she doesn’t remember.” Then to my surprise and great pleasure, in an emboldened voice, he said, “I named you after the ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown!” My dad knew my story!
Determined to find more information about the “unsinkable” Molly Brown, I did a little research. I discovered that Margaret “Molly” Brown was one of the survivors from the Titanic. She was on Lifeboat 6 (the third lifeboat to launch from the sinking ship) that was filled with women, a Pomeranian and a ship’s quartermaster. As the story goes, she took control of the boat after the crewman lost hope of survival. She was said to have been a strong willed and spunky woman who’s “never say die” efforts were crucial to the survival of those in Lifeboat 6. There are several tales about the notorious “unsinkable” title; however, it would not be a stretch to say that anyone surviving the sinking of the Titanic is a miracle.
As it turns out, the having such a namesake is quite appropriate for me, given the difficulties that I have faced in my life. In spite of it all, I have somehow overcome; I have, in fact, been “unsinkable”. As much as I would like to say that I have a strong-will and “never say die” attitude like Molly Brown, I can’t. I am easily discouraged and quick to claim that the situation as “hopeless”. In truth, I am actually quite “sinkable” but I have the best life preserver that a human can have; God.
One might say that it’s an interesting coincidence between the everyday struggles that have required me to be “unsinkable” and the notorious nickname, but I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in God-incidences and that is exactly what my name is about – God’s claim on my life, before I was even born.
Just as my earthly father knows the story of how I got my name, my heavenly Father knows the story of my life. The amazing part of that revelation is that not only does my heavenly Father know my story, but he knew it before I was born. He knew what lay ahead in my life and that my discovering such significance in my name would come at just the right time – when I needed to be reminded.
“You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest…You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head…You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb…You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Psalm 139:3, 5, 13, 16 (NLT)
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Life Lessons from a Fern
I recently spent a long weekend with a friend in her new home. When I arrived I was thrilled to see all the beautiful trees and birds in her yard. Majestic live oaks and tall pine trees; cardinals and blue jays – I was in my element. I quickly spotted one of my favorite plants covering the sturdy branches of a very old live oak tree – the resurrection fern. Recent rains had brought many of these little ferns back to life after a dry winter.
One of the reasons that I love this little fern is because it has an amazing ability to overcome the harsh conditions of winter. How does it do that? It dies – or at least appears to be dead. The dry air of winter desiccates the fronds of the fern; they shrivel and become brown, giving the appearance of death.
Appearances can be deceiving. To the untrained eye, these little plants appear to be dead; however, they are anything BUT that. Indeed, with just a little bit of rain or humidity, they spring forth from apparent death into refreshing life.
I am enamored by this little plant because it provides the perfect analogy of the difficult times in my life and my daily struggle with mental illness. Depression, anxiety and relentless mood swings easily overwhelm me and seem to suck the very life out of me. Much like those desiccated ferns, my hope dries up and I feel like I have become lifeless. The harsh conditions bring me to a place where all seems lost.
Through the lens of mental illness, death appears to be much more inviting than the pain of living through these hopeless dry seasons. Naturally, from that dry place of hopelessness, it is not difficult to come to a point of desiring nothing but death.
In Ezekiel 37, God brings the prophet to the Valley of Dry Bones – a place of death and complete hopelessness. The purpose of bringing him to such a place was so that God could show Ezekiel that even from such places of death and despair, life can be brought forth. Even when all we see seems to be dead, like that little resurrection fern, God has the power to raise new life from the most hopeless conditions.
The most difficult hurdle of mental illness is seeing outside of the mire that we are in – finding hope in the apparent hopelessness of our circumstances. Today, I am here, on the side of life, to encourage you that there IS hope. The power of healing rain is on the way and new life will spring forth for you.
Ezekiel 37:5 – “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”
Photo credit: https://alchetron.com/Pleopeltis-polypodioides#-
