from Wipf & Stock Publishers, Resource Publications, Imprint
Marcia Murphy’s book To Loose the Bonds of Injustice is a must-read for anyone working with the mentally ill. Combining memoir and a scholarly review of history, this book reflects the author’s spiritual and psychological journey in life. Policy analysts, religious leaders, and mental health professionals all can learn to do a better job helping those in need by reading this book.
—Scott Temple, PhD, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
To Loose the Bonds of Injustice
The Plight of the Mentally Ill & What the Church Can Do
by Marcia A. Murphy Order Here
Summary
Ms. Murphy is a Christian who has lived the life of a mental patient in the United States in the period between the closures of the big institutions in the 1950s and the advent of community care-based treatments. Her latest book project is an inside view from someone who has much to say about the vital role of the church and society in counteracting the deplorable conditions faced by people who experience mental illness.
This new book builds on the insights provided in her earlier memoir, Voices in the Rain: Meaning in Psychosis, in which she shared the story of how she became ill and what it was like to have a psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, and clinical depression. It is the story of how she found spiritual meaning — and ultimately, God — through her experience with mental illness.
Intrinsic to survival is the question of meaning: meaning found in suffering and how it relates to religious faith. It’s about how, without God, the author feels she’s be dead. Throughout her writing she describes how the church, though imperfect, has opened its doors to her, sharing the love of Christ in a myriad of ways, supporting her in her struggle to survive. To Loose the Bonds of Injustice describes how difficult things are for individuals with mental illness. It is written for congregations, educators, health care professionals, civic leaders, government officials, and the general public: not only can individuals become more sensitive to the needs of the mentally ill; but, consequently, this would systemically influence and improve society as a whole.
Unique Features
This new book is the first to address the living conditions of the mentally ill from the standpoint of social justice. It is the first for religion to partner with the psychiatric field from a spiritual vantage point to improve the lives of those afflicted with medical, social, and spiritual maladies. It is written by someone who has lived with the challenges of a marginalized human being, someone who has insights that no one in the mainstream has experienced. Professionals often write from the viewpoint of someone observing their patients from the outside. Instead, Ms. Murphy tells what it feels like from the inside, to be afflicted with emotional, physical, and social challenges that hinder development and success. This project offers solutions on many levels, unique by virtue of who and what the author is: someone that has been in the darkest depths of severe distress and who found that Christ is the only hope for the mentally afflicted; and the church as Christ’s body, though imperfect, has a vital role in healing and restoration.
Mental Health Initiatives (MHI)