Depression

[Minh]

Greeting PB,

I need some help for spiritual guidance. One of my setback is that I easily slip into depression at any moment for some unexplainable reasons. I try to be motivated for prayers and seeking Christ through His words, but I receive the opposite atmosphere of temptation and blasphemous thoughts. I find it so hard to be diligent as Christ's servant. While such temptation does not cause me to doubt the truth of God's word, it lead to question my own salvation as if it was genuine. I also try to seek the righteousness of Christ for my sanctification but my flesh rigorously rebels against it.

My pastor is quite busy, so I humbly ask here for sound and biblical advices.

Grace and peace from Christ.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

The first thing to remember is that depression is a medical problem, not a spiritual problem. (Ignore those who tell you that you just need to love Jesus more; that sort of advice is extremely bad. Loving Christ more is not going to cure you of a broken leg, and it probably won't, in and of itself, cure a broken mind.) Depression may, however, leave you more susceptible to certain temptations. Most of the Puritans and other Reformed authors that I have read on melancholy, counsel someone with depression not to spend too long in prayer, meditation, and Bible reading. See if you can find a medical solution to the problem while praying to the Lord for healing.

 

[rookie]

Being married to a woman with severe depression, bipolar 2, suicidal and a few other things...the first counsel I would also add, is make an appointment to your family doctor, and possibly a psychologist (Christian counselor if you can find one).

The medication my wife is on, has almost brought her back to the wife I married.

Unfortunately, some people will need medication for the rest of their lives, and for others, it's the little boost they need.

Another factor I would also put in, if you're a fan of youtube. Look up Dr. Berg...diet is often the culprit. A co-worker was in a bad spot a couple of years ago, he started taking a big pinch of himalayan salt in his water, and he claims it made all the difference.

With all this said, I will add you to my list of prayers.

 

[greenbaggins]

Mold is a biggie here, too. If you have mold, especially black mold, that has extremely ill effects on your mind. I echo Daniel's advice, though with this caveat: some forms of depression can be related to spiritual causes, recurring sin, for instance. However, the majority of them have a medical explanation, and I would certainly look there first. Diet is also important. Are you getting enough good fats, like butter?

 

[Amy Green]

As a person, myself, who has suffered from severe depression and other mental disorders for as long as I can remember, I whole heartedly feel your pain.
My family doesn't believe in mental illness and consequently, out of the respect and honour due to my family in their decisions, I have never been medicated. My walk with depression has therefore been a very lonely one of constantly being told I have BIG spiritual problems. That aside, there are some things I do to help myself cope:


Pray: 1Pet5:7 says that we should cast all our cares upon God because he cares for us, Psalm 62 also says that we should pour out our hearts. Prayer is a not only a wonderful way to bring our lives in line with God's, but also it keeps our minds busy with thinking what we should be thinking about instead of going on a major spiral of: thinking about your depression then becoming more depressed, and thinking about your depression then becoming more depressed etc.
And I know sometimes I feel so depressed I don't even want to pray anymore. But is such a situation Rom8:26 is a great comfort to me.
I think every suffering has a cause, pattern and purpose.That's why prayer doesn't change God. It changes us.

Psalms. The psalms have become a daily place for me to go to. They are full of reassurance and hope. I mean think of how wonderful it is in Psalm139 that God knows our thoughts while they are still a far off(before we can have a chance to think them!)
Sometimes the depression can get so bad that I feel very disconnected with God, I feel so exhausted with fighting(I ask myself how can a Christian be and act this way!?!?) But then I remember Psalm73:26 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. " - and again my wandering, tired soul has a place to rest.

Christ. In Hebrews 12 it talks about Christ being tempted in all aspects like we are and he suffered perfectly. I won't go into detail, but the point is we should look to Christ in all our sufferings. If you'd like to know more detail as to what I mean wrote a blog post on it a while ago: https://amyspieinthesky.wordpress.com/2019/11/11/looking-to-Christ-heb-12/

People. Depression is something that sticks, and sometimes it will go through these waves of getting worse. Consequently it is important to stay around other people, to be involved with other people: in your community, family and church. When you are very depressed don't ever let yourself be alone.

Schedule. I make a very rigorous schedule and stick to it at all costs. This helps me to notice when I am slipping and it helps me to keep focused. - if you can measure something you can control it. Without my schedule I would be very, very unproductive.

Exercise and eat healthy. Nothing beats the endorphins you get from exercise and as a result I have become a professional cyclist. When Eric Liddell said "God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." He was talking about the endorphins adrenaline rush: they are things God made for us to enjoy to make exercise pleasurable and to feel God's pleasure when we exercise.


...anyway that's my five cents, the best would be to get yourself to a Christian Psychologist - they have studied depression and mental illness and can really help you. If you could talk to your minister it would also be great(I've done that). But if you feel you can't that's also okay.
And I will add you to my prayer list and pray for you!

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

Not all depression is medical. I agree that the fall has impacted our physical being. So that should be considered. I also found for myself reading large portions of scripture have cleaned up a lot of my depression. I had to force myself to read when I didn't want to do anything. I mostly read a lot of narrative Old Testament stuff when I would feel down. Most of my depression was sin imposed compounded by a sensitive conscience.

I had read a passage where Jesus said, "by my word you are cleansed." I took that in a simple, probably out of context, way and just started reading large portions of scripture for many days in a row and my depression would improve greatly.

Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

 

[Jeri Tanner]

People prone to depression also may need to be careful about how much time is spent on social media and maybe screens in general. That’s hard in our day. And those same people may need to work to simplify life in other important ways so that first things remain first things. I’ve often been helped to reset in my misplaced affections and involvements in things by Psalm 131;

“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

“Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

“Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.”

Prayed for you!

 

[Dachaser]

Greeting PB,

I need some help for spiritual guidance. One of my setback is that I easily slip into depression at any moment for some unexplainable reasons. I try to be motivated for prayers and seeking Christ through His words, but I receive the opposite atmosphere of temptation and blasphemous thoughts. I find it so hard to be diligent as Christ's servant. While such temptation does not cause me to doubt the truth of God's word, it lead to question my own salvation as if it was genuine. I also try to seek the righteousness of Christ for my sanctification but my flesh rigorously rebels against it.

My pastor is quite busy, so I humbly ask here for sound and biblical advices.

Grace and peace from Christ.

My senior Pastor has dealt with this since early on, and he likes to focus on worship songs , to read daily in scriptures, and he has said very important to have physical check up, and to have a fellow believer can confide in at times.

 

[KMK]

Go to the Dr. and find out what kind of depression it is. Sitting around in the dark only makes it worse.

 

[rookie]

I would like to add a bit more. A few things my wife has done, that has helped tremendously.
1. Exercise. If not daily, she'll miss 1 day, the most, 2 depending on work schedule and travels. She has been consistently going to the gym and I have noticed a huge difference. Sure, it's nearly 2 hrs out of her day (travel + workout) but the progress in her mental health has been huge.

Her exercises are beginner (I have lifted weights for years, and am treating a shoulder/pec/lat/trap injury that is causing major shoulder pain when I put strain or resistance on it, otherwise, I'm looking at Calisthenics) and I am almost critiquing her poses, techniques and movements. Then I realize, unless it's going to lead to an injury, she's feeling better and we also see physical progress, leave it alone.

2. While she's on her phone, a lot, she's cut down social media, a lot. Now she's just watching documentaries on Netflix a bunch, and her favorite shows. She's comparing herself to others much, much less (which I see as the leading contributor to most depression situations, the research backs this up when Facebook came out 2004, then the Iphone 2007, portable depression)

3. Limiting time with people that give her anxiety. I'm one of those factors sometimes. I'm always planning 5 steps ahead, budget, food, trips in town, everything. So when I start talking to myself out loud of what I have to do, she tunes me out and simply says "I can't handle your pre-planning, can you do that quietly..." So, I retreat to my office, and do my planning there. She has a hard time dealing with her mother for extended periods of time, so I visit them often, I get along with them great...but her mother can be a bit much even for me (she's very paranoid and negative).

4. Limited her coffee to 2 a day, when she had more, her anxiety kicked up...which then the crash was a bad depression...

5. Barely any processed foods anymore, for both of us...now our bodies can more fully use all the nutrients needed to function (within budget of course...)

I could add a few more...but I think these are a bunch to digest on for now.