by Roger Alcaraz
Depression seems to be taking over the world like a virus, sometimes bringing people to a seemingly hopeless state that could last for years. It is a serious problem, yet I believe many counselors make it worse by not focusing their attention on the root cause of it. The goal of this article is to explain what depression is, how it’s typically treated in America, and finally, in part two of the article, how to think about depression biblically.
The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference defines depression as “a persistent mood that is characterized by intense feeling of inadequacy, sadness, hopelessness, pessimism, irritability, apprehension, and a decreased interest in or ability to enjoy normal activity.” This mood must last at least two weeks before being considered as clinical depression. Sadly, many people look at the circumstances of a person’s life and try to figure out what caused the depression rather than look at it from a biblical perspective: identifying not the circumstances around the person, but the condition of the person.
Depression could be caused in response to many things such as: guilt, preoccupation, stress from a tragedy, etc. It also takes on many forms such as: loneliness, irresponsibility, hopelessness, over-sleeping, insomnia, sickness, thoughts of suicide, loss of appetite, etc. The variety of causes and symptoms alone should indicate that there is no direct single causal factor of depression—meaning that even if a doctor had all the information regarding a person’s life and medical reports, there would be no way of knowing for sure whether or not the person would fall into depression. This means that if the counselor ever wants to get to the heart of the problem, he is going to first have to ask a lot of questions to understand the circumstances that led to this depression and how it is manifesting.
The most common treatment to depression is to take drugs. However, The New England Journal of Medicine found that drug companies selectively publish studies on antidepressants. Drug companies have published nearly all the studies that show benefit while withholding the numerous studies that show these drugs are ineffective. This warps peoples’ view of antidepressants, and it has fueled the tremendous growth in the use of psychiatric medications. Companies like the makers of Viibryd, Zoloft, and Cymbalta are now part of the second leading class of drugs sold.
Not to mention there are huge risks in putting so many chemicals in your body. These side effects include: nausea, weight gain, erectile dysfunction, fatigue, drowsiness, insomnia, dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, dizziness, agitation, irritability, anxiety and even increased thoughts of suicide. Some of the side effects go directly against what the drug is trying to accomplish, revealing just how uncertain the outcome of taking them will be. I mention all this because if you’re counseling someone who has been diagnosed with clinical depression by a doctor, chances are that they’ll be taking medication. While this article gives a simple overview of them, it’s your responsibility to know what they do. As counselors, it’s not our place to tell someone to go against their doctor’s advice, but we can encourage them to study for themselves and come to their own conclusions.
The second remedy is to develop good habits like eating healthy, sleeping regularly, exercising, and being involved with a support group. Similar to the drug remedy, all these cater to the symptoms rather than the cause. Even still, these are all good things we want to promote, not as the solution to depression, but as help along the way. Developing good and healthy habits can help someone overcome sin. Rather than becoming a sloth, it is good to put some effort into how one takes care of himself because it often reflects how hard he is willing to be disciplined in other areas of life.
As Christians, we know that discipline is not enough. We must have a heartfelt desire to do what God wants for us, otherwise, it’s not pleasing to God. But it’s like the times when I haven’t eaten in so long that eating food actually hurts my stomach. I have no desire to eat in those times because I know the pain that would come, but food is what I need and so I eat apart from desire. Similarly, a depressed Christian will likely not want to read the Bible, pray, serve others, or be involved in church. However, the very things that he doesn’t want to do are the very things that will help him. He doesn’t want to read about God, but only God can help. He doesn’t want to serve others, but he needs to take his eyes off of himself. He doesn’t want to be surrounded by people, but he needs good community and accountability. Therefore we must encourage right living even if the depressed person has no desire for it because it can lead to right thinking which can lead to triumph over depression. God designed mankind such that if we walk in obedience to his will, we will find contentment– and contentment is just what people are longing for.
Ultimately, as counselors, we need to guide them to think about depression biblically and remind them of the hope we have in Jesus. We do this by understanding their situation, caring for them, keeping them accountable in their disciplines, and pointing them to Christ through Scripture and prayer. In my next article, we’ll be looking at the biblical understanding of depression and how we can help others to fight against it.