(Continuing a series based on Dunbar’s book, “Friends”. You can find the basic thesis here: https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/09/18/introduction-to-friends-by-robin-dunbar/ ) If Dunbar is correct that the average person can only sustain about 150 friendships, then the quality of those relationships and the type of people you are friends with has a massive impact on your life. 150 relationships that are … Continue reading Friendship groups and class/ power →

Section 3 of the book shows how the principles of section 2 work out in a variety of case studies. The case studies helpfully show the diversity of mental illness impacts and the sorts of help and support that is needed. “two things that are said that evening stick in his memory. One is that … Continue reading Other thoughts on Mental Health and Your Church →

(Follows on from the previous notes on section one, "Understanding Mental Illness": https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/10/12/mental-health-and-your-church-drugs-and-talking-therapies/) What can we do? Reading this section I was struck by the helpful realism of this book. Doing nothing is not an option but doing everything isn't an option either. They focus on some key actions, but recognise that often slow progress … Continue reading Notes from “Mental Health and Your Church”: What can we do? →

More highlights from “Mental Health and your Church”. This book is an introduction to mental health for Christians and churches. Continuing to look at the first section, “Understanding mental illness”. Chapter 4 introduces us to the medications used to treat some mental illnesses. There is the usual wisdom and balance here. On the one hand … Continue reading Mental Health and Your Church: Drugs and Talking Therapies →

(I may be in danger of alienating friends who I am not good at keeping in touch with by my Dunbar posts! Maybe you are wondering where you land in my friendship hierarchy! So as a break in the series, here is the first in a shorter series on Mental Health and your Church.) This … Continue reading Mental Health and your church: Helen Thorne and Dr Steve Midgley →

Continuing a series based on Dunbar’s book, “Friends”. You can find the basic thesis here: https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/09/18/introduction-to-friends-by-robin-dunbar/  Time is vital for friendships. It takes time to make friendships, and it needs regular time to maintain relationships. “He found that it took about 45 hours spent in each other’s company after first meeting for someone to progress from … Continue reading The importance of time for friendship →

Continuing a series based on Dunbar's book, "Friends". You can find the basic thesis here: https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/09/18/introduction-to-friends-by-robin-dunbar/  “the big surprise was that when we looked at the patterns of contact before and after changing friendships, they were almost identical. It seems that when we replace someone in our social network with a new friend, we slot … Continue reading Implications for church community of people having distinct and stable friendship structures →

(Outline of Dunbar's thesis on friendship capacity in previous posts: https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/09/24/the-definition-and-value-of-friendship/ and https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/09/18/introduction-to-friends-by-robin-dunbar/) Robin Dunbar suggests (based on psychology and sociology) that human beings have an average capacity for 150 friends. These friends are in rings of closeness, each ring including the previous ring and being roughly 3 times the previous one. So a closest … Continue reading Dunbar’s number and church size and organisation →

(Second in a series looking at Dunbar's book 'Friends' https://jotsandscribbles.blog/2023/09/18/introduction-to-friends-by-robin-dunbar/) Robin Dunbar looks at friendship through an evolutionary lens. Since we invest so much time and brain capacity into our friendships, they must bring us some benefit. And therefore he sometimes defines friendship in terms of the people who care for each other and will … Continue reading The definition and value of friendship →

Introduction to ‘Friends’ by Robin Dunbar This is the first in a series of blog posts on Robin Dunbar's book “Friends”. Dunbar is an evolutionary psychologist who worked at Oxford University. In this book he helps us understand the power of friendships and explores some of the social and biological realities involved. Robin Dunbar came … Continue reading Introduction to ‘Friends’ by Robin Dunbar →