Depression Talk

Just in case you were wondering, there isn’t really an official Catholic patron saint of depression — but there is one for mental ilness. Since depression is considered a mental illness, this is about as close to we’re going to get. Although I’m not Catholic, I love to learn about mythology. It’s also good to know how other cultures perceive your depression.

And despite St. John’s Wort being touted as a nautral antidepressant, the herb was not given its name because St. John had anythign to do with depression. The herb got the name because it bloomed around St. John’s Feast Day (also known as Midsummer).

Say Hello to Saint Dympna

St. Dympna had the twisted and tragic life that typifies the more interesting of the Catholic Saints. Since she is supposed to have lived in the 600s in Ireland, it can’t be proven whether she really lived or not. However, most myths are based in reality, so it’s highly possible that Dympna was either based on an old long-lost Celtic myth or from a real person. She’s also known as Dymphna and Davnet.

Dympna was not the one who had the mental illness. It was her father Damon, a Pagan leader of some sort. (As a Pagan myself, I won’t take offence). After her mother (a Christian) died, Dympna’s father ordered her to wed him. Well, like the good Catholic Saint she’d be, she refused the admittedly creepy thought of having her marry her Dad, so she took off for parts unknown with the help of her Christian priest.

She and the male priest ran off to Antwerp and did tons of miracles to help the sick and the poor. There’s appraently nothing in the story about anyone raising their eyebrows at the sight of a lone, nubile young female travelling with a male in a priest’s uniform. Sure he was her priest. Right.

Anyway, Dad Damon catches up with the pair and beheads them. End of story.

Death Becomes Her

Dympna apprently has had a busy time of it after her head and her body parted ways. She’s not only the patron siant of mental illnesses, but also of epilepsy, sleepwalking and posessed people. Oddly enough, serotonin is thought to play a part not only in depression and epilespsy, but also migraines (which definitely make you feel possessd).

Either that or bitchy Dympna causes all of the problems because she had a bad childhood.