Finding Compassion
Mental disorders impair normal psychological functioning. Well known mental disorders include depression, alcoholism, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorders. Hundreds of support groups are available to help individuals who suffer from mental illness, but others suffer as well. They may not suffer directly from mental illness, but caregivers, family, and friends also exhibit effects of mental illness including guilt and exhaustion.
In the essay “Under The Influence” by Scott Russell Sanders, Sanders watches his father struggle with alcoholism. Although Sanders is not an alcoholic, nor does he exhibit symptoms of alcoholism, he does suffer in many other ways. As a child, Sanders struggled with guilt and confusion from his father’s alcoholism. He blamed himself for his father’s disease. When Sanders becomes a parent and sees that his children are directly affected by his actions, he is then able to see how much his father’s alcoholism had affected him. In recognizing this, Sanders learns that he was not responsible for the disease that consumed his father.
Throughout seventh and eighth grade, a few of my friends suffered from mental illnesses that often times resulted in self-destructive …show more content…
In hindsight, I realize that those life experiences have molded me into the caring, compassionate person that I am, just as Sanders’ life experiences have shaped him into the man, father, and writer he is today. Although Sanders learned different lessons from his experiences than I did, they were equally influential in his life. Sanders’ father was consumed with alcoholism and was unable to teach him normal life lessons a father would teach his son. Similarly, my friends did not necessarily provide me with a normal middle school experience, but thankfully both Sanders and I were able to learn and flourish from our challenging
Mental disorders impair normal psychological functioning. Well known mental disorders include depression, alcoholism, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorders. Hundreds of support groups are available to help individuals who suffer from mental illness, but others suffer as well. They may not suffer directly from mental illness, but caregivers, family, and friends also exhibit effects of mental illness including guilt and exhaustion.
In the essay “Under The Influence” by Scott Russell Sanders, Sanders watches his father struggle with alcoholism. Although Sanders is not an alcoholic, nor does he exhibit symptoms of alcoholism, he does suffer in many other ways. As a child, Sanders struggled with guilt and confusion from his father’s alcoholism. He blamed himself for his father’s disease. When Sanders becomes a parent and sees that his children are directly affected by his actions, he is then able to see how much his father’s alcoholism had affected him. In recognizing this, Sanders learns that he was not responsible for the disease that consumed his father.
Throughout seventh and eighth grade, a few of my friends suffered from mental illnesses that often times resulted in self-destructive …show more content…
In hindsight, I realize that those life experiences have molded me into the caring, compassionate person that I am, just as Sanders’ life experiences have shaped him into the man, father, and writer he is today. Although Sanders learned different lessons from his experiences than I did, they were equally influential in his life. Sanders’ father was consumed with alcoholism and was unable to teach him normal life lessons a father would teach his son. Similarly, my friends did not necessarily provide me with a normal middle school experience, but thankfully both Sanders and I were able to learn and flourish from our challenging