CIP
The Christian Institute of Philosophy
If you are a Christian that has experienced depression do you have some thoughts to add to this article? Send them to me at visitcip@protonmail.com and I will post them anonymously. Any advise you can give to another Christian experiencing this problem could be a great help - even life saving.
Depression
(a short course)
Depression is a major problem within the Church for a variety of reasons. This short course will delve into the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments of depression from a Christian perspective. Begin this course by watching the videos below - They are excellent summaries about Depression.
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This video is a great summary of the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments for depression.
Excellent testimony by Joni Tada regarding depression. If you are not familiar with Joni's story - make sure to look her up on Google.
This video is highly recommended. John Campbell has a gift for teaching and did an excellent job during the Covid pandemic. He is trust worthy, professional, and smart.
If you are experiencing significant depression in your life, there are Five things you need to know.
1. The mind can malfuction just like your leg, arm, foot, and the rest of your physical body.
This is difficult for us to accept. We want to believe that our minds are somehow immune to sickness and that we have total control over our thought processes. But deep (clinical) depression is like a short circute of the mind. The deeply depressed mind will not give you correct answers. In stead, it will give you bizzar and confused thoughts that are not based in objective reality. The scripture tells us that the mind is vulnerable and must be protected. If you are proned to depression, it is extremely important that you accept the fact that you need to protect your mind. (We will discuss how this is done later in the course.)
2.There is a big difference between mild/moderate depression and severe (clinical) depression.
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Excellent video discussing the difference between mild, moderate, and severe depression.
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Depression discussed from a Christian point of view. Past expriences and memories can cause depression. June Hunt talks about her own life experience with abuse and mental pain.
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3. You must not believe your feelings when you are deeply depressed.
In fact, it is always a good idea to monitor feelings (emotions) and be sceptical of what they tell you. Emotions can tell you that something is wrong, but rarely can they tell you what is wrong. Emotions more often than not lie to you, especially during a time of depression.
During a time of depression, always base your conclusions on solid facts, not on emotional feeling. This is why it is so important to have a good counselor or friend you can talk to. They can give you good feedback about how you feel and help you to base your conclusions on objective facts rather than fluctuating feelings.
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She does a very good job of describing the feelings of depression.
Emma does a great job of explaining
how you can take small steps day by day
to come out of depression. And, she explains how to develope a healthy life style that will help protect you from depression in the future. Make sure to take what she is saying seriously, even if it may sound a bit strange to you at this time in your life.
4. You must decide to have hope, even though everything seems hopeless.
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Douglas does an excellent job of discribing the loss of hope in the mist of depression and how a person must tell themselves that this time will not last forever. He also mentions how depression will talk to you and tell you that there is no hope of getting well so you might as well end it all. He is absolutely right.
Always remember that this is the depression talking to you - Never, ever, agree with this! Never give up. There is always hope in Christ. He will lead you out of the darkness.
One time of life is not all of life!
Hang on. There are ways to get over depression. This course will help you. And most of all, follow your shepherd - the Lord Jesus Christ - He will lead you out of this dark valley. He understands how you feel, because He himself was deeply aquainted with pain and sorrow.
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief ... surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows..."
Isaiah 53:3-4
5. Take it easy on yourself.
One of the primary signs of depression is self loathing and self condemnation. These thoughts will not help you. They will hurt you. When you are depressed, shame will not motivate you to get better, it will simply deepen the hole you are already in. There is an old saying in life: "If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging." This is especially true when dealing with depression. Condemnation is a viscious circle where you condemn yourself for being depressed which then causes a deeper depression and you find yourself deeper in the hole. Condemnation will become a vortex sucking you down deeper and deeper into the darkness.
Emma does a good job of explaining how self-condemnation is a trap that can only make things worse.
Emma's thoughts are a good place to start, but if you are having problems with deep depression you will need the theological perspective of Rest in Christ.
6. You will need the Theology of Rest in Christ
For the Christian, good theology is extremely important when you are experiencing deep depression. Here are some examples that will help you understand the theology of Rest in Christ.
Depression tells you: I am a failure - I have failed my family, I have failed myself, and I have failed God.
Theology of Rest says: It is Ok to be a failure, because in God's eyes we all are failures. God expects for you to be a failure that is why he sent His son. In fact, you are closer to knowing God intimately when you fail than when you succeed. We never learn to rest into Christ and His finished work for us, until we fail.
Depression says to you: Other people can measure up and serve God, but for some reason I can't.
Theology of Rest says: The important thing is not your service to God but your intimacy with Him, and that is based not on your works or service but on what Jesus has done for you at the cross.
Depression says to you: "But I see Other people working for God and being successful - and then I look at me and I just can't do anything right.
Theology of Rest says: The other people are most likely fooling themselves. No one can really work for God. God does His own work, and especially when we are battling depression we need to rest into God and let Him do the work while we rest and heal in His Spirit.
Depression says to you: "But If I tell Jesus that I am going to stop all my works for Him and stop trying to serve Him, and I am just going to rest my heart in Him - He will say that I am a bad Christian!"
Theology of Rest says: No He won't. He will say: "I have been waiting for you to do that. Now let me take over and you rest with life and get well. Quit struggling and just rest into my love and acceptance of you. He will say "come unto me for you have heavy burdens and I will give you rest".
At the very least, tell yourself that you will act upon this Theology of Rest until you get well. When you get well, you can take anouther look at this theology and decide if you agree with it. But for right now, if you stay with a theology of working (performing) for God, you will be condemning yourself even more for not measuring up to God's standard, and that will cause you to want to hide from Him. Then, as you distance yourself from God in shame, you slide even deeper into depression. As a Christian - the Theology of Rest is absolutely critical to your recovery from depression.
7. Trust God more than you trust your emotions.
Although Emma does a great job with these videos, she is missing a critical piece of the puzzle of life. The human mind is not capable of figuring things out depression on its own. Note this video gives you a sense that things are not adding up with her approach - as though there is a big piece of the puzzle missing. Note how you can feel her struggle with the subject and how there is a sense of frustration. The central piece of the puzzle that is missing from her video is the need for a solid frame of reference. To deal with depression you must have a solid frame of reference outside of yourself. The only solid frame of reference that will work, is God and His word (scripture). You have to know that Jesus is in this dark place with you and that you can depend upon Him to lead you out.
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