King David was depressed. In the opening verses of Psalm 13 he writes, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?”
The book of Job is filled with verses about his depression..“I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come to be. I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes …. I will never again experience pleasure ... I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this. I hate my life” (Job 3:23-26, 7:11, 15-16, NLT).There are other examples of depression in the Bible and so I think the answer is YES! Then why are we ashamed to say that we are in the middle of a depression spell? I truly think it's because of how society sees mental illness..because you can't see it - "It's all in your head!" and you should be able to just think yourself out of it right!?! SO WRONG!!!
Doctors believe that depression is a time when our brains become chemically unstable for whatever reason..and that it's not about self-pity or lazyness or self-denial. While these things can contribute to it we must begin to accept as a society that there are biological reasons for it.
I can attest to depression because I have dealt with it for years. Infact, it is something that runs in my family in many members and so I clearly see the biological side of things..and I can personally attest to the fact that depression causes one to withdraw spiritually. But it's at these times when I take some action steps to help deal with my depression
- Confide in a trusted friend all my thoughts, fears, etc to see if they are founded
- Read the Bible and search out verses of comfort
- Attend a 12 Step meeting
- Seek out professional help if it lasts more than a few weeks (I tend to cycle so by now I can tell when I really need help)
- Get exercise!!
- Take a break from the family
- Pray
