Healing for Depression

Warning: Depression is emotional despair that can end in suicide.
If you feel suicidal, or are trying to help someone who may be suicidal, click here.

 

Table of Contents

 

How do we Define Depression?

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. - Isaiah 53:3

Before we expect to find the cure for depression, we must first define the disorder. This definition comes from the Mayo Clinic.

The two symptoms key to establishing a diagnosis are:

1. Loss of interest in normal daily activities. You lose interest in or pleasure from activities that you used to enjoy.

2. Depressed mood. You feel sad, helpless or hopeless, and may have crying spells.

In addition, for a doctor or other health professional to diagnose depression, most of the following signs and symptoms also must be present for at least two weeks.

1. Sleep disturbances. Sleeping too much or having problems sleeping can be a sign you're depressed. Waking in the middle of the night or early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep are typical.

2. Impaired thinking or concentration. You may have trouble concentrating or making decisions and have problems with memory.

3. Changes in weight. An increased or reduced appetite and unexplained weight gain or loss may indicate depression.

4. Agitation. You may seem restless, agitated, irritable and easily annoyed.

5. Fatigue or slowing of body movements. You feel weariness and lack of energy nearly every day. You may feel as tired in the morning as you did when you went to bed the night before. You may feel like you're doing everything in slow motion, or you may speak in a slow, monotonous tone.

6. Low self-esteem. You feel worthless and have excessive guilt.

7. Less interest in sex. If you were sexually active before developing depression, you may notice a dramatic decrease in your level of interest in having sexual relations.

8. Thoughts of death. You have a persistent negative view of yourself, your situation and the future. You may have thoughts of death, dying or suicide.

Depression can also cause a wide variety of physical complaints, such as gastrointestinal problems
(indigestion, constipation or diarrhea), headache and backache. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2008)

The Mayo Clinic staff compiled this list of symptoms from the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) bible, the DSM -IV-TR ¹ . The DSM -IV-TR represents the current opinion of the APA, and was created in an attempt to standardize treatment for different mental disorders. In reality, psychiatrists interpret the different symptoms of mental illness subjectively. For instance, how much "loss of interest in normal daily activities” does it take for a healthcare professional to check that symptom? Therefore, in real life, the line between being temporally depressed and being diagnosed with clinical depression is imaginary, and subject to change.

Chemical Balancing is Not a Cure

It is also important to note that the Mayo Clinic’s definition did not mention a chemical imbalance. This is because the relationship between depression and chemical imbalance is not as established as many in the mental health community would have us believe. According to Jonathan Leo and Jeffrey R. Lacasse's The Media and the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression, factual documentation for the chemical imbalance theory is rather sparse. If you know a patient who has been diagnosed as having a chemical imbalance, you should ask them one question. Was their diagnosis established by a blood test or with a behavioral questionnaire? Would your friend accept the diagnosis of a serious physical ailment, such as diabetes or cancer, from a doctor using a questionnaire instead of the appropriate lab tests?

Admittedly, there is heated debate on the topic of chemical imbalance and both sides have firm convictions. Unfortunately, the money from the pharmaceutical companies has had a major influence in shaping the medical community's opinion. If you believe that chemical imbalance causes depression, then you will likely believe that counseling and lifestyle changes will be ineffective without psychotropic medication, the only real answer.

Even if the chemical structure of the brain were different in a person suffering from depression (this has not yet been established), that alone would not prove the chemical imbalance theory. For example, a person who is really angry will have a fast pulse and elevated blood pressure, but this does not prove that a fast pulse and elevated blood pressure can cause anger management problems.

If you accept the opinion that you have a chemical imbalance, the blame shifts from your behavior or worldview, to some outside force (in this case too much or not enough of a particular chemical). If you are wrong, you may spend the rest of your life medicated (many people do), yet you will never be healed. Even worse, when taking medication for depression it is easy to mistake the side effects of the medication for the symptoms of depression. In fact, every FDA approved drug for depression has "suicidal thoughts" as a side effect. To show this, I have prepared a spreadsheet that compares the symptoms of depression with all the side effects of the different psychotropic medication used to treat them.

If you are currently taking prescription drugs for depression, do not stop taking the medication except under the care of a physician. Withdrawal symptoms from psychotropic drugs are dangerous, even life threatening. You should ask your mental healthcare professional about all the side effects and dangers associated with taking a prescription medication (and withdrawing from the medication) before you start taking any drug

It is important to realize that there will always be ups and downs in life.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; - Ecclesiastes 3:4

However, as Americans we are conditioned to expect immediate healing. For instance, as we sit in front of the television, sitcoms introduce some emotional problem and its solution in less than half an hour. During the commercials we are sold instant cures to all our problems. We are told that we deserve to always feel good. Have you ever wondered why the cure for almost everything is a pill? Do you have a headache? Take a pill. Stomach ache? Take a pill. Have an infection? Take a pill. Have an allergy? Take a pill. Have a runny nose? Pill. Leg cramps? Pill. This conditioning has been going on for a long time. Quoting Dr. Bernstein as early as 1973:

"Prescription drugs are now a multibillion dollar industry. The public has been convinced that human problems such as anxiety, misbehavior, obesity, insomnia, overpopulation, sadness, rage, marital difficulty, and school adjustment all require medical attention. Once a problem is considered as a "disease," it is easy to think of drugs as a cure (Bernstein and Leonard,
1973)."²

Have have advertisers improved their skill since 1973? Unfortunately, when you do not understand depression, it becomes like a Chinese finger cuff: the harder you resist, the harder it grips. I am not against taking an antibiotic for an infection; they that are sick need a physician. I am opposed to doctors who prescribe antibiotics, or other medications, that are not in the patient’s best interest; like the doctor who offered a new widow psychotropic drugs so she would not have to mourn her husband’s death ³. Rainy days are a normal part of life. There are times when we need to mourn.

And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. - Matthew 9:15

The Prescription for Healing Depression

Even though there is a time to mourn, some people suffer from a depression that goes beyond normal grieving. If drugs are not the answer, then what is the cure?

Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
- Jeremiah 31:13

A life given to Christ

In the simplest terms, giving your life to Christ will cure depression. While this study will not offer an altar call until the very end, the cure offered in this study comes from the teachings of Jesus Christ. After many years, scientists are starting to find out that following His teachings will lead to a sound mind. Those who have given their life to Him will concur with Jesus’ statement:

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
- John 10:10b

This does not mean we will not have trials or sorrows. It does mean that we can have joy and peace in the midst of our trials, and hope in the midst of our sorrows.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. - John 16:33

Even so, don’t many professing Christians also suffer from depression?

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Luke 6:46

Unfortunately, and at the risk of being offensive, many who profess to be Christian are not following the teaching of Jesus, even if they are practicing the traditions taught in their church. Many Pastors, instead of counseling the word of God to their congregation, have become a referral service for psychologists. In fact, pastors are the main referral service for the secular psychiatric community. In doing so, pastors ignore many biblical admonitions including:

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein. - Hebrews 13:9

Even if a pastor does not refer to a psychologist, he may incorporate into his teaching many doctrines from modern psychology. Yet Sigmund Freud hated Christianity, calling it a neurosis; Albert Ellis felt religion hindered the fun of fornication and therefore was detrimental to mental health; Carol Rogers founded the Association for Humanistic Psychology; Maslow and Jung both thought that Christianity was, at best, mythology. Any Pastor who couches the teachings of someone who mocks or hates Christianity, teachings which are diametrically opposed to the Gospel, is playing the role of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Jesus and Paul both warned us of them:

[Jesus warned:] Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. - Matthew 7:15

Paul also lamented:

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. - Acts 20:29-30

In order to defend yourself against wolves, or if you are a pastor playing the role of a wolf, you must learn the contradictions between the Gospel and modern psychology. When speaking to the religious leaders Jesus said:

Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
- Mark 7:9b

If you will leave tradition behind and begin to obey Jesus, you will see victory over not only depression, but other mental disorders, as well. Believing this, let us look at some of the specific precepts that Jesus taught.

For good mental health, stay open to counsel, accountability and exhortation.

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
- Zechariah 13:9

AND

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: - 1 Peter 1:7

As we start to look at exhortation and accountability, we see two competing worldviews. The most popular is a belief in relativism and the other is a belief in absolute right and wrong. Absolute rights and wrongs are one reason that so many have a hard time submitting to Jesus.

Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. - Proverbs 9:8

AND

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. - John 3:19-20

Compare the above scriptures with the methods of secular counselors, who treat their patients' depression by trying to increase their self-esteem ⁴. In such cases, the patient must return week after week to have their lifestyle affirmed. The psychiatrist of a patient I personally knew, told her to avoid people who did not affirm her choices, "they are ‘dangerous’ people." After this, the patient could no longer receive correction from family or friends. In obedience to her doctor, she regarded those who would not affirm her decisions as dangerous and avoided them. Unfortunately, as the result of making poor decisions, she suffered with depression for the rest of her short life, which ended in suicide.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
- Proverbs 14:12

It is more natural to look for affirmation, than it is to admit a fault when we have done something wrong. For example, Jane Doe has an abortion. Her boyfriend, parents, even her pastor pressured Jane into it. These friends told her that she had no choice; that carrying this untimely baby to term would ruin her life.

Countless women receive the same counsel every day. If we look into Jane’s future, we would not be surprised to see her actively counseling other women who are in a similar situation, to get an abortion. In counseling others, Jane is trying to reaffirm her own choice that she made years earlier. She had to end her baby’s life. At this point, Jane has closed her mind to any counsel or exhortation that may be critical of her earlier choice.

Jane is still hurting from her abortion, which is common. As long as she remains closed to self-examination, she will never heal. Jane's mind is telling her that she had no choice and that it was only a blob of tissue. Jane's psychiatrist is telling her that she has a chemical imbalance. Yet deep down Jane's own heart is telling her, "I killed my baby.”

While untreated post-abortion syndrome is one source of depression in women, any sin that has hurt others will cause depression. Real deliverance comes when we recognize and purge our hearts of these secret sins. In order to see how we have hurt others, and in order to overcome our weakness, accountability, and even criticism, is very helpful.

If you are open to receiving correction, I recommend using the Bible as the final authority. You can judge every admonition by it. If unsure on the meaning of a scripture verse, err on the side of literalism. Be sure to the exegete (get your doctrine from) scripture, not eisegete (read your personal beliefs into your interpretation of) scripture. Beware of loyalties to family, culture, and even the church in regards to interpreting the Word of God.

The [Berean’s] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
- Acts 17:11

Always give credibility to scripture over your own experience. Our own limited experiences can be misinterpreted, subjective and deceptive. For example, most people, if they judged by nothing but their own experience, would conclude that the world is flat.

More Bible passages on the topic:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: - 2 Timothy 3:16

AND

[Jesus said:] As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Revelation 3:19