with Jessica Whipple

Author & Poet

We asked Jessica to follow up her forum with a reflection:

What I Didn't Get to Say

Because some of my OCD themes reach into the realm of the spiritual, my talk and the audience's questions touched on some excerpts from the Bible. I would have liked to share this: It's common for well-meaning Christians (leaders or friends) to call to mind the verse in the Bible that says "...we take every thought captive in obedience to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5.)

The hope is that this verse would provide comfort or guidance to the person who has intrusive or repetitive thoughts/compulsions. For me, it does the opposite, however. A friend mentioned that this is a verse that is often taken out of context and perhaps may be misapplied in this instance. I bring this up because it's another way I've felt "cosmic isolation," a feeling I mentioned having in my talk. 

Summary

I'm thankful to have been invited to share my experience of suffering and fear--but ultimately acceptance and hope--as a person with OCD and Major Depressive Disorder. I spoke openly about my time in an Intensive Outpatient Program, and about how Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and the need for ultimate certainty have impacted my life.

I shared some published poems and an excerpt of my children's picture book I Think I Think a Lot (Free Spirit Publishing, August 2023 - Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon) through which I aim to explore my mental illness so others might relate. Though my experience is unique, I shared how community, acceptance, trust, treatment, and more have helped me find hope when things have been difficult.

A word from our Curator Tom Becker:

I appreciated Jessica opening up the can-o-worms that is anxiety and invasive thoughts. So many of us have experienced such things episodically or chronically. But who do we tell? Where do we go?

During the talk, I heard a lot of “umms” and “uh-hus,” telling me that she struck a nerve. If not for the audience members, perhaps for people they care for.

Enlightening to some (though not new to me) was her affirmation that mental illness is no different from physical illness in so much as it being more “spiritual.” Christians, in some circles, have felt a pressure to take their broken bones to the doctor but their broken minds to God in some kind of direct way. What a burden to carry!

Of course, believers in Christ can bring everything to God in prayer, but they are also free to treat ailments by their very nature because God made us humans in bodily form. We’re all broken in many ways, and this includes our emotions, thoughts, and dispositions.

The good news is that “nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus,” and when it comes to health, God has our whole being in his sights!