Depression
Why are people depressed? Is it medical or spiritual?
Depression – A State of Mind or Spirit
One of the most troubling situations that many people face today is the phenomena called Depression. According to the DSM IV, a manual for medical doctors and health professionals, which describes symptoms, and does NOT address causes at all, this is clinical depression:
According to DSM-IV, the diagnostic manual from American Psychiatric Association, criteria used by mental health professionals, you have Major Depressive Disorder if:
You have had an episode of depression lasting at least two weeks with at least five of the following symptoms:
(1) You are depressed, sad, blue, tearful.
(2) You have lost interest or pleasure in things you previously liked to do.
(3) Your appetite is much less or much greater than usual and you have lost or gained weight.
(4) You have a lot of trouble sleeping or sleep too much.
(5) You are so agitated, restless, or slowed down that others have begun to notice.
(6) You are tired and have no energy.
(7) You feel worthless or excessively guilty about things you have done or not done.
(8) You have trouble concentrating, thinking clearly, or making decisions.
(9) You feel you would be better off dead or have thoughts about killing yourself.
This is a very broad description of symptoms, and according to them one “has it” if they have at least 5 of these sets of symptoms. With any Mental Illness in general and specifically depression no doctor can claim to do anything more than diagnose and deal with SYMPTOMS, most have no idea what causes it, or for which individuals it applies.
What is clear from this description is a person has a kind of aimlessness, a lack of motivation, combined with fear, anxiety and worry.
Many pastors and Christian counselors, particularly those associated with the Biblical Counseling movement characterize depression as a result of incomplete dealing with, or repentance from sin, and even accepting the consequences of sinful activity all of which has long lasting consequences. Christians, and new ones in particular are often baffled, that becoming a Christian does not somehow wipe away consequences of moral choices that were made either deliberately or out of “ignorance” of God’s expectations regarding how they live their lives. Often this “ignorance” for non-christians or those who claim to be one is more of the willful ignorance, like not knowing the rules somehow lets them off the hook for “breaking” rules of conduct that God expects of all of us. Galatians 6:7 is very clear: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap”. When God gives clear direction about how people are supposed to behave, and people claim ignorance or blame others for the consequences, then this battle becomes one between God and the individual. When an individual makes the mess, somehow God or others somehow get the responsibility for cleaning it up. Adults are expected by God to clean up their own messes and accept the consequences of the moral choices they made. According to I John 1:9, if a man confesses his sins, God is faithful to forgive his sins, and cleanse him from all unrighteousness. This makes clear that the eternal consequences from all sin (eternal death), are forgiven because of the price Jesus Christ paid for our sins on the cross. We are forgiven, we are cleansed, but no where in scripture does it ever say we are freed from the consequences of those acts of sin. We made moral choices in disobedience to God’s commands, that in his word he warns us again and again of the consequences, primarily by example of what happened to Israel, as God’s chosen bride.
One prime example is what God told Israel, who He had freed from bondage in Egypt, was providing for them food (manna from the sky), and taking care of them while He moved them back to their Promised Land. In Genesis it is described, that Israel and his family had been moved by God to Egypt to escape famine in Canaan, and God was in process of restoring to them the Land of Promise, a land of Rest, Milk and Honey. In Deuteronomy 7:1-11, God makes very clear what HE expects of His chosen people, He even tells them the consequences of their disobedience (3,4) should they CHOOSE to disobey HIS commandments. It is amazing, that when God deals with His people Israel in that way, that somehow He expects less of us as people NOW!! Christians think that God delights more in us “praising” Him, and going all through the motions in the “right ways”, then in us BEING obedient to what God asks of His bride, the church and of His children. As Christians because of the price God paid for us, by sending His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us, we should obey Him out of thankfulness and not out of obligation to “earn” a salvation that in reality only comes from our Faith in His provision for our sin.
Some comforting words for those that need comforting.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NASB 1995
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.