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Spiritual Beliefs
They all experienced what we would call clinical depression. Read 1 Kings 19 sometime. Elijah was clearly going through depression! Or, listen to this quote from Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers. "My spirits were sunken so low that I would weep by the hour like a child, and yet I knew not what I wept for." Depression may be the most common, and yet most misunderstood, of all the painful emotions. Despite the fact that Scripture presents some very clear examples of depression in its heroes, Christians have tended to hold to the belief that to be depressed is a sign of failure or spiritual weakness. I can't imagine anyone thinking that Elijah was a weak Christian, yet in a future column I want to show you the biblical record of his depression. How common is depression? One out of every 18 adults- about 10 million of us- will suffer from clinical depression at any one time. In a church of 250 members this would mean that about 14 parishioners could be suffering from an incapacitating depression. One in five adults will experience a severe depression at least once in their lifetime. Alarmingly, only about one third of those who are seriously depressed will actually seek treatment. Some don't know they can be helped. Some are afraid to admit they need help because it might stigmatize them. Others are callously told by their Christian friends that they should just pray harder or try to find the sin that is causing the depression. Most don't seek treatment because they're just too depressed and feel too hopeless to believe that they can get better. They try to "tough it out." Unfortunately, this can have serious consequences not only for the sufferer but for all those connected to him or her. They don't realize that with proper treatment they could probably have bounced back in a matter of weeks! What are some of the symptoms of depression? +A deep sadness or melancholy mood. + Loss of interest or pleasure in activities or pastimes that you used to enjoy. + Deep feeling of fatigue. + Changes in appetite. Usually this means having less appetite but sometimes it means having more appetite. +Changes in your sleep pattern. You can't go to sleep or you go to sleep and wake up without being able to return to sleep or you want to sleep all the time +Feelings of guilt, worthlessness and self-reproach. +Inability to concentrate andor make decisions. + Thoughts of death and/or suicide.
If any of the above symptoms sounded familiar? Seek help! Talk to your doctor. Talk to your pastor. Make an appointment to see a professional counselor. Depression is serious business! Please take it seriously!
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