Dealing with Depression

"Dr. Waldron," the man sitting across from me said earnestly.  "What do you think I should do?"

I looked at Nelson.  "What do you think you should do?"  It is sort of a non-answer, but sometimes those are the best.

"I just don't know," he said.  He looked down at his callused, workman's hands.  "There is a man -- a couple of men -- in my church who tell me that depression is a spiritual problem.  If I just had faith, I could go off of my medication.  God would give me real joy -- not like these medicines give."

Nelson wasn't the first person I had heard say these things.  I knew he was struggling.  He had been on medication for depression for several years.  We had tried to take him off of it a couple of times and he just didn't do well.

I shook my head.  "It isn't a good idea for you to stop your medicine," I said.  "Do you think there's some spiritual problem that you aren't dealing with?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Do you think you have a better relationship with God when you take your medicine or, when you don't?"

"Oh, definitely when I take my medicine.  When I go off, the despair gets so blinding that I can't do anything."

"Then you should keep taking it."

Depression and mental illness are hard things to deal with -- hard for those who experience them -- harder for those who have never experienced them to understand.  They are invisible, seem so less substantial than pneumonia, or diabetes, and seem so much more in someone's control than these physical maladies.  Many are certain that a person should be able to think his way out of such a mental state.

Christian people often take this a step further, saying that depression is proof of a severed relationship with God.  This is a dangerous attitude to take. 

An attitude like this discourages people in need from seeking help and encourages those who are receiving treatment to discontinue their medications.  The underlying message is "Your Depression isn't real, it is only in your head."

But depression is real.  Those who have not walked in the Valley of Severe Depression do not know how dark this vale is, but those who are there now, need light and they need hope.

I do not believe that all illness -- mental or physical -- comes because of some divine judgment. 

Why does it come?  So that we can become more like Christ and so that God can be glorified in our lives.

We must not set up barriers to prevent hurting people from receiving help.  The message of the gospel is clear.  For unwell people there is hope and there is healing, if they but come.

I believe that medication is part of that healing.