Hope is Not Lost

Depression is a pervasive problem in our society and the most common mental health disorder leading to disability in America(1) There could be as many as 20 Million people in the United States that are impacted by depression. (2)  This pervasive disorder strikes people across all socioeconomic lines, so no one is exempt from its impact.  Insurance companies that pay for a depressed person’s treatment are acutely aware of the tremendous costs of depression with loss of productivity at work and the overall social costs of depression and want the most effective treatments available in order to curb these costs (3).  Although research is ongoing to the economic costs of depression, in 2000, the economic costs were around 87 million dollars (4).
The impact of depression has not escaped Christians. Depression can cause significant problems for pastoral staff in terms of how they explain the causes and treat church members afflicted with this illness. Some pastors have a view that it is all a spiritual leaning towards a demonic influence, lack of a person’s faith or a person’s sin. Other may adhere to spiritual explanations, such as depression as a test from God, a punishment from God, a thorn of the flesh or a person’s cross to bear.  There are traps in these explanations and they have the tendency to point at the person as the cause of their depression.  
 What cannot be debated is that depression can be extremely disruptive and debilitating for some people suffering from the disorder. Dr. Krause expounds that depression robs a person of the willpower to take care of the simplest tasks and that the person’s waking moments are an experience of ongoing misery where nothing brings them pleasure and a deep sense of hopelessness.  We can surmise then that depression is experienced by a Christian in the same way and inhibits their ability to experience a relationship with God (3).
There seems to be a void in between the church and mental health system of today.  The main problem is that the church has a tendency to over spiritualize depression and the mental health system has a tendency to under-utilize spirituality in a person’s treatment.  Neither the mental health system nor the pastoral system appears to fully address a Christian’s depression.  This leaves a person’s spiritual care in the hands of the mental health system which is not equipped to address it or a church system which could blame the person pushing them further away from God. Our goal is to strike a balance between various explanations and to reintegrate Biblical explanations for depression as well as its treatment, therefore, giving the person experiencing depression and those responsible for spiritual care some direction.
One major complication of depression is that it can have devastating effects on a person’s spiritual life.  A person might have varying beliefs about God’s lack of love for them or possibly even forsaking them.  And individuals might neglect spiritual disciplines important in their walk with God.    
Another complicated area for those who are depressed, is that of suicidal thoughts.  Suicidal thoughts can come in different types, sometimes they are passive where one is more wishing they were dead or hoping God would take them in their sleep and other times they are active and come with intense urges.  These thoughts can be on a daily basis where the person might think about suicide most of the day.  
    Two examples of the results of depression on spiritual life are taken from two patients with whom I worked at an inpatient psychiatric facility.  One patient, a female and in her 50s, did not experience any problems with depression until her husband had died after many years together.  From the time of her husband’s death, she began to experience a spirit of heaviness and a sense of hopelessness.  When she experienced these feelings, she would have thoughts in her mind that God had abandoned her and was somehow displeased with her.  She then went one step further in thinking that she must be feeling this way, not because her husband had died, but because she had somehow committed some sin (what she called “participating with the devil”).  Along with this thought, she started to have suicidal thoughts.  She thought that if she participated with the devil, she was now completely rejected by God.  The hopelessness stemming from her thoughts about God’s rejection eventually led her to take her own life, following discharge from the hospital.   
    The second example is a gentleman who was hospitalized due to having very similar symptoms in that he was very depressed and hopeless.  In talking with this man, he divulged that he was hopeless because he had rejected God when he was young and now God was rejecting him.  It would almost become an argument with this man when discussing anything about God’s forgiveness and God’s love for him.  These ingrained thoughts about God led him to believe that his situation was hopeless. The end result is that he wished he were dead.  He could not bear living with the hopelessness that came from believing God had rejected him.   This man was living a miserable existence as he could not connect with God per his depression and hopelessness.  This man left the hospital only mildly improved as a major burden for him was living day to day believing God had forsaken him.