Depression in Christians – Introduction

Please leave a comment below if you want to hear more about depression.

It is a major topic that is not addressed often in the Church. This is because people think your “faith should be enough”. Faith does not cure depression, we need more options for treatment.

“Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”

Psalm 143:7-8

Depression happens often for many people. For some it is triggered by unfortunate events, a depression which here may be more accurately labeled as a “response to tragedy”. These people usually are not chemically depressed, instead they have had horrible things happen to them. They have lost a job, lost a family member or some other external event. Other individuals are tormented by chemical depression, whether constant or periodic. It is triggered by nothing, it just comes on, and it sends an individual spiraling into the abyss. Either way, depression is a great evil.

The weak demagogues in the Church are no help when it comes to dealing with depression.

They assume that simply praying and being thankful can combat biochemical reactions in the brain.

(There is a large disagreement on the cause of depression, whether it is chemical or caused elsewhere in the body, here we will assume it is chemical).

Would prayer combat other chemical reactions as well? Would you drink some Cyanide and pray that God would undo the chemical reaction of the cyanide with your system so that you wouldn’t die? No. God does not directly alter His Laws of nature. You would die despite praying for help. God allows the laws of chemistry to continue uninterrupted. Prayer will not save you from the chemistry that God Himself created. There is more required for combating depression than prayer and being thankful. 

Depression will crush your faith if you allow it to. Depression will make you want to leave the Church. The classic, weak-minded questions enter our minds: “Why would God allow me to feel this way?”. We cannot allow these questions to enter our minds, they are for the weak. We must insulate our minds against these thoughts. Keep the mind working through depression. Take in information constantly. Start moving. Start Growing. Otherwise you will die.

Depression is not taken seriously by the modern Church, so you may have to deal with this alone or in small groups.

If you do need help, do not become accustomed to using other people as crutches. Accountability is a crutch, you must learn to rely on yourself. If you cannot deal with things alone, then you need more strength. There is nothing wrong with leaning on others, however you need to endure at least some negative events in life on your own so you will have the strength to hold yourself and to hold someone else when they need to lean on you. Relying on yourself builds massive strength, so that you can support others. Suffer now, so you can be more valuable later. Your depression will leave in a few days or weeks at most. 

Mantra

This will pass. 

Application

Get moving. Get outside. Stagnation and isolation lengthen depression. Get in the gym, even though you don’t feel like it. Training is going to be one of the few constants in your life that you should always be consistent with. Biochemical reactions from training can combat depression. If you get in the gym, you will release norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin among other hormones. These work together to alleviate the symptoms of depression. So the second you feel depression coming on, get moving, you can keep it at bay through training the body. 

Do not let depression crush your faith. You need to have your faith fortified before you enter a depression so that you can outlast the siege. Every chink in the armor of faith needs to be addressed, because it will be targeted when you fall into darkness. Have your faith issues worked out while you are happy, so that when you are assaulted, you can go back to what you know to be fact and use it to endure the sorrow. This is just like the general who trains his soldiers in times of peace so they can be well prepared for times of war. Depression is an endurance game, you have you outlast it.

Conduct Yourselves like Men.

Read more! Next: Concentration