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Pre Natal Depression

This week's dilemma is from Daniel.

His wife is now in a mental hospital, after giving birth to their first child.

She suffered pre-natal depression for the majority of her pregnancy, she then had the baby, and has now sunk into a deep depression.

She's so far refused to see their newborn baby - and now Daniel is worried about who will look after the child.

Soon he will have to return to work and doesn’t want to put the child into childcare.

He was excited about being a father for the first time, but this development has turned his world upside down.

What should he do?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

• Daniel has a wife and newborn baby to look after …who takes priority?
• Not only has the size of his family changed, his wife is now a different woman to the one he married.
• How can he balance all these changes…once he returns to work?

Posted by Sheridan Voysey on July 10, 2007 1:51 PM |

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Comments (1)

Hona Wikeepa:

I thought I would add my 20 cents for all it is worth. My wife and I have 12 children between the ages of 18 months and 29 years. We both have aften gone around the perverbial bend on many occassions. The first question we asked ourselves was why. The Bible says we are all born with a dichotomy in our thinking as a result of the fall in the garden. This fall involved three separations in the mind of man. Sin separates us from God and second it separates man from his fellow man. Third is most important because it involves this dichotomy in mans' mind. Because we are separated from God as the result of sin, we cannot know who we are apart from God and the Bible. So all of humanity as J C Ryle put it has a death sentence upon them which is accompanied by a real anxiety about everything.

In regards to Daniel's wife I think this is a good place to begin because what we are confronted with here is the direct result of this dichotomy in the mind of Man. When Adam and Eve sinned, their immediate questions were, who am I and where did I come from. Satan shifted the concept of truth from a God-conciousness to a self-conciousness because Adam noticed his nakedness. When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, her questions were the same although expressed in different terms. The man from Gadarene also had the same two questions as did the men on the road to Emmaus. Jean Paul Sartre French existentialist philosopher said that there are only two basic philosophic questions that confront all humanity, the questions of metaphysics (being) and of morals (personality). Despite not being a Christian Sartre really understood Mans' dilemma. Man is fallen and we need to understand what this means. If not than we will find ourselves dealing with something we don't understand because we put a secular twist on a spiritual matter.

In regards to who will look after this wonderful baby, there is a body of Christ in this great country too many to number. If he has trouble finding members of the body to look after bub, than we are all in deep trouble.

God Bless Daniel, his wonderful wife and the beautiful expression of God's grace and mercy: the baby.

Posted by Hona Wikeepa | July 15, 2007 6:19 PM

Posted on July 15, 2007 18:19

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