Understanding and Overcoming Depression
Page Two
- Bereavement or grief following the death or loss of a loved one
- Postpartum Depression—around the time a woman gives birth, or shortly after
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)—a type of Major Depression that develops in winter
- Bipolar Disorders—previously called Manic-Depressive Disorders—characterized by mood shifts from extreme feelings of elation, enormous amounts of energy, irritability, moodiness, increased risk taking, and little need for sleep, to periods of deep depression2
- General medical conditions (e.g., Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, heart attack, stroke, vitamin B12 deficiency, hyper-and hypothyroidism, lupus, hepatitis, mononucleosis, human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], diabetes, certain kinds of cancer, etc.)
- Side effects from certain types of medicines including some for pain, high blood pressure, cardiac conditions, ulcers, and Parkinson's, as well as muscle relaxants and steroids
- Reactions to metals and toxic substances like paint, lead, gasoline, insecticides, nerve gases, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide
- Intoxication or withdrawal from substances, such as alcohol, cocaine, etc.
Spiritual and Existential Struggles
Jodie came to see a counselor because she felt depressed much of the time. She traced the start of her symptoms to the time she began asking questions about the meaningfulness of certain aspects of the Christian faith. This upset Jodie because she valued her faith in Christ and was afraid she might be losing her salvation. She was terrified and feared that she might be doomed to hell for her questioning and doubt.
When Jodie tried sharing her concerns with others in her church, they told her she should just have more faith. One "friend" made things worse by reinforcing her fears that she was losing her faith. Another told Jodie that perhaps she was never a Christian in the first place and that everything she had been doing and saying was a lie. Others did not take her seriously and treated Jodie like a child, saying she was just going through a phase that she would soon outgrow. No one understood her doubts and questions, and Jodie felt all alone. Nevertheless, she could not put away her suspicion that some of the things she had been taught about Christianity over the years were untrue.
As Jodie began re-examining the beliefs she had uncritically accepted as a child, she found that some rang true with the Bible and her experience of Christ while others did not. Some of the things she had been taught seemed to be more a product of her church's subculture than that of the Bible. And some of the hard questions she was asking had never been discussed in her church or family and seemed threatening for her friends and family even to consider. In time, Jodie's counselor helped her see that rather than losing her faith, Jodie was actually growing in her Christian faith by examining what she believed and making it hers for the first time.
 Some individuals and church
subcultures do a better job than others
of providing encouragement for people
with questions and doubts.
Like Jodie, many people go through periods of doubt and struggle as they re-evaluate their faith. These periods of questioning occur on a rather predictable basis and have even been written about in books and articles on faith development.3 For some, these struggles are relatively mild and painless. For others it is a lengthy and painful struggle. This happens most often in two types of situations. First, extra sensitive or introspective individuals-especially late adolescents, young adults, people in new subcultures, and people facing great hardship or tragedy-may ask hard questions about the fate of people who have never heard of Christ and those who sincerely follow other faiths. They reflect on injustices that have been carried out in the name of God, realize that some of the things they have been taught are questionable at best, see people who have been hurt or neglected in their church, or wonder why some of their earnest prayers seem to have gone unanswered.They don't want to lose their faith, but they are too honest to ignore these problems. They wonder if there really is a God. And if there is, is He the God of the Bible?
Second, some individuals and church subcultures do a better job than others of providing encouragement for people with questions and doubts. People who offer quick advice, look down on the person, or who are uncomfortable with those who ask hard questions can make growth and transitions more difficult. This happens even when the person acting this way is trying to help out. Others who do not judge while they listen in an active and caring way to the questions and concerns of the person can help smooth the transition by reducing the isolation and other unpleasant feelings that the person may have.
Another kind of intense struggle can combine with a tendency to be excessively self-critical or to suffer from guilt and discouragement, triggering serious depression. This happened to Carl. At thirty-five years of age, he no longer felt the joy or enthusiasm he used to feel in his relationship with God. Over a relatively lengthy period of time, Carl talked his experiences over with his pastor and a couple of good friends. Gradually, he realized that he was going through a shift in his Christian experience but that didn't mean he had to "throw the baby out with the bath water." True, he was outgrowing his less mature sense of excitement and the naïve aspects of his faith. But he found that he had the potential to shift from finding his pleasure in the good feelings he got from his faith to a deeper level of commitment and loving God for who God is, not so much for what God did for him.
Fortunately, Carl's pastor was spiritually and psychologically sensitive and was able to help Carl navigate through this phase of spiritual life that is so common that it has a name-the dark night of the soul. It is a period of shifting to a deeper type of faith that often requires a time of struggle and apparent loss of intimacy with God.
Jodie and Carl's spiritual struggles both helped create their depression, and their depression was significantly relieved as they worked through their struggles of faith. Sally was different. She had a Major Depression first, and then noticed that she lost the feelings of joy and enthusiasm in her life with Christ. The guilt and self-condemnation and loss of interest in life caused by Sally's depression carried over into her relationship with God, leaving her feeling distant from Him and feeling like a failure in her Christian life. She wondered if God could really love someone as worthless as she believed herself to be. Instead of spiritual struggles causing Sally's depression, depression caused her spiritual struggles.
 Continued on Page Three
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