Attitudes to Depression

It was with some pain and anxiety that I read a recent article in a Christian newspaper about Depression. I was dismayed that many aspects of the illness of Depression, has been so misunderstood by some Christian people.

The piece of writing gives credence to the idea that people suffering from depression are fooling themselves and need to get their act together. The idea that sufferers should close their eyes and pray to God and everything will be ok, is unbelievably irresponsible. The same would not be said to sufferers of Cancer, or other life threatening physical illness. Mental illness and spirituality do not seem to go hand in hand to some ways of thinking, and there seems to a prevailing attitude that suffering in that way has something to do with the lack of holiness of the sufferer.

Mental illness still has a stigma in our society, and unfortunately still also in the Christian church. This is not like our Saviour, nor does it reflect how he treated and talked to people. The social stigma two thousand years ago was Leprosy and sufferers were unceremoniously cast out, denigrated and banished from social and spiritual life. Christ welcomed such people, loved them, touched them and cured them completely. They were then able to rejoin their family and friends and live full productive lives. They unsurprisingly loved him and followed him and some even became his followers.

Today’s stigma can also be overcome with the same attitude that our Lord had, and still has. We cannot necessarily heal instantaneously, but with the right treatment, therapy and exercise of faith, sufferers of serious mental illness can also overcome their illness, just as many physical sufferers do. All of us must walk with God in the paths of obedience and trust, but it is difficult for those who wrestle with their thoughts, because of the blame and guilt that the negativity breeds. The inward, cognitive turmoil is very hard to cope with and there is little rest, day or night. Perhaps mental health sufferers are the ones who really know what it means to fight the good fight and endure until the end.

I was asked by a doctor recently about getting some healing for my illness. My reply was that I thought God had permitted my illness for my benefit and his glory, and the real glory to his name came from my coping with it in his strength, rather that trying to get healing. It is quite a jump of faith to see serious suffering as a benefit. I sometimes see it when things are not so bad, but it is hard to swallow at other times and I just have to know that it  is true.

Christians who suffer mentally do have holiness issues, as do these who suffer physically. All Christians should be feeling the effects of their sins and the attendant guilt, and dealing with it on a daily basis. The difficulty for many is separating the real guilt from the false accusations in the mind, which mark much of the Depressive thought processes. It takes a long time to come to terms with these issues, as the mind seems adept at generating the blame associated with this type of illness.

Some may think that people who suffer from Depression, or the opposite extreme, Mania, are not really trusting in God because they need chemical medication to keep their body chemistry in balance. It is a well documented fact, that mental health patients do not usually want to take their medications anyway, because the side-effects can be ever worse that the actual illness. It can be difficult for a sufferer to see that they need the medication, just as a Leukaemia suffer needs treatment, but may not quite feel the consequences of the illness, and it is difficult to accept that Depression is an illness. Drugs are not the total answer to long term treatment for mental health sufferers, but stopping medication or not using what is available for sufferers is prohibiting a viable and important source of alleviation of the painful conditions.

Everyone needs someone to talk to. If something traumatic has happened to you, you may need a special person to talk about it with, to sort out why you think and feel various things. This is not a shame. It is a normal human need. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and our minds are a labyrinth of all sorts of thoughts, feelings, memories and attitudes. It is wholly appropriate that there should be trained people with a wide and deep experience of life, to help human beings in deep emotional need. We all need to adjust our thinking and behaviours at all points in our lives, and therapies that help us to do this are useful and enable us to experience less pain and hurt while trying to make sense of some things we don’t understand.

I recognise that there is a misuse of the diagnosis of Depression, but it is foolish to just say that people need to “pull themselves together” and deny that a Christian person is not really trusting in God, if they seek help from a professional person who has insight into the workings of the human mind. It is rank spiritual pride to think that any one church and one person has the skills for every person in the congregation. There is only one person who can do that, and melancholy suffers have to find Him like any other, so called, normal person.

Normal is a misnomer. We are conditioned to think that there is a “sane” state of mind and an “insane” state of mind. The division between states is one or the other and we talk of “going over the edge.” The truth is that we all live on a sliding scale of mood with extremes on each side. Each day is different, and some days we are in a brighter state of mind than others and some days we feel in a lower mood and can’t seem to get going. This is common to all humans, mentally ill on not. Depression is when that low mood interferes with our functioning and basic needs are not met, like being able to eat and sleep. Without sleep it is spectacular how quickly we can descend into the abyss, and that is when we really need professional help.

I have never been able to define the terms “sane” or “insane.” Also the term “mad” or “crazy.” The best I can get is that it is used to describe someone who does not fit the set criteria for a set of circumstances on social mode, but these codes of behaviour change with situations and cultures and even families. They also tend to be exclusivist, so that those who fit in can be comfortable in their normality and those who don’t, need to be excluded. None of us are the same as another, which is just as well for our world and society as a whole. People who think differently bring richness and interest to societies and are excellent problem solvers. Many artists and poets were sufferers of emotional and mental pain, and we find their work attractive and compelling as we view how they coped with life and depicted it in their Art work.

We can read the accounts in the scriptures of the Psalmist suffering obvious Depression and the actual physical symptoms that he suffered, as well as emotional. The scripture does not talk about medicines, but Lithium Carbonate has been around since the beginning of the world, and I am sure the ancients used to too. The Psalmist says that he is in trouble and asks God to “have mercy upon me; for I am afflicted.” (Psalm 25) Some thoughts are associated with his sin, and some with his “affliction,” and for mental health sufferers, it can be hard to distinguish between the two. I would have loved to have had the opportunity of speaking to a Christian therapist or counselor, many years ago when I first became really ill, but there was no one. This compounds the feeling of isolation and that you are the only one and because you don’t now anyone else who sufferers similarly, and then maybe you are not a Christian after all.

This highlights another vein within the strata of mind illness and pain. Christian sufferers have this set of thought processes to go through that perhaps others don’t have. Christian assurance is often linked with these types of illness and Christians in the past have bourn witness to this particular set of pains. William Cowper wrote some amazing words of Christian worship and love for Christ and his ways, and yet he was plunged often in to deep, dark thoughts regarding his position with God. John Newton ministered many times to him and rescued him for death at his own hands. The power of the enemy of souls is insidious and not to be trifled with. Sometimes we can only call out to God and follow hope, even when it seems almost non-existent.

As a sufferer myself, for any years, I thank God for my medications, even though it galls me to have to take them. I also have been affected by this thinking that I am some how weak for relying on them, and am not truly trusting in God. I have thought about why I have to suffer like this, and what purpose it serves. Others sufferers that I have consequently met, to my deep thankfulness, have helped me to realise that it is no shame to suffer in this way, and that there are many ways that I can relate to people that I might not have had if I was “normal.”

I sometimes think God asks me to suffer like this because he knows he will give me the strength so that I can bear it. I know I can’t bear it by myself, and I know that others on the outside know I can’t either, and so the fact that I continue and am not a frequent visitor to Psychiatric hospital, reflects on my God and shows what he can do. I have a very demanding job, which involves me working closely with all kinds of people, and I believe my disability to be bonus, rather than a hindrance. Maybe it isn’t a disability at all….

I do fear the future and what might happen to me, especially in old age, but I have the years gone by so far and the many proofs that the promises of God are true and that he has not let me go, so I know I can trust him for the future too. This is a daily trust, which I must daily remind myself of and read the scriptures to hear God voice speaking to me. They are the key, as they are the one solid and reliable foundation which we can all depend upon.

I think we need to get away for the idea that people want to take tablets and it is the easy way out. It is not. If I take my medication and keep my thoughts and behaviours in check, I can have a life where I can go to work, look after my family and serve in God’s house. It is worth it.