Depression

I am concerned that depression is getting too bum a rap lately. On the Today show recently, a guest indicated that depression is more a problem than our society has acknowledged, that many more people are seriously depressed than we think. She indicated that there are new and more effective drugs for depression and that more depressed people need to go and see their doctors.

Now I know there is such a thing as serious medical depression, and I know that the use of drugs to treat such conditions is indicated. But I believe the numbers this person was giving were way out of line as regards medical depression. Most depression is not “medical,” and most depression is not a bad thing. Just the opposite. Depression is most often a very healthy thing. Most depressed people are depressed for good reason. Depression usually indicates that something is going wrong in a person’s life. There is a problem with the spouse, or in the family, or with their job. Perhaps they are depressed because they feel their life has no real purpose. Perhaps they are depressed because they are spiritually empty, because they need God. (As Augustine said, “You have made us for Yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”) In this regard, depression is like pain. Nobody likes pain, but pain is a wondrous gift. It indicates that something is wrong with our bodies. How terrible it would be if your body were injured and you never knew it because you could feel no pain. If there were no symptoms, how could the underlying injury or disease be discovered and treated?

Thank God for pain, and thank God for depression. If you are depressed, why? What is there in your life you need to address? Address it! Don’t take a pill!

C. David Hess