According to the World Health Organization, depression is the fourth leading cause of disability in the world, behind only heart disease, cancer, and automobile accidents. It is predicted to become the second leading cause by the year 2020. What's more, the incidence of depression is increasing at an alarming rate in every demographic and age group. In fact, among women it is the number one cause of disability. In all, 19 million Americans suffer from some level of depression. And yet, mysteriously, very little is mentioned about it in the average church today, apart from an occasional illustration intended to underscore some other more important point. This relative silence on the topic is particularly ironic in view of the historical fact that depression occurred surprisingly often among God's servants in the Bible. Indeed, some of God's greatest acts of redemptive history were done through servants who either were depressed at the time or became so during the course of their responsibilities. So when we add our apparent reluctance to speak about depression to the fact that there are many sitting in the pews who are languishing in that very emotional state, unaware that the Bible actually speaks to their problem, we have a communication gap that profoundly affects the witness of the Church.
So why do neither the clergy nor lay people seem inclined to discuss such a vital issue burdening our brethren? Why is it, too, that 80% of the people who are struggling with depression (and this includes pastors) fail to seek treatment of any kind? For starters, studies have consistently shown that a majority of people view depression as a sign of personal weakness and so are embarrassed to even admit it to themselves. Moreover, the physical symptoms of depression (e.g., fatigue, loss of interest in things, various aches and pains, insomnia, etc.) allow people to remain in denial by attributing their emotional malaise to some low-grade virus or some other physical ailment. Worse still, many believers see depression as not merely a personal weakness, but as evidence of spiritual deficiency. Unfortunately, this belief is often reinforced when they are told they need to pray more and have greater trust and faith in God in response to their tearful disclosure of their intransigent mood state. When their depression still fails to lift, they are convinced all the more that they are beyond any divine help, much less any human help. People are actually leaving churches—and sometimes the faith—because of the stigma and spiritual confusion associated with depression.
Pastors are in an even more difficult place because they live in the so-called “glass bubble.” They are always expected to be on their game and, above all, are supposed to demonstrate the model of godly living which, in their minds, certainly doesn't include depression. I have counseled with many pastors, missionaries, and church leaders over the years who initially felt they were a complete disappointment to God (not to mention themselves) because they couldn't get past the emotional pitfall of depression.
Many of them had come to see me as a last resort, since their regimen of prayer and biblical study, which they had so often recommended to others, had failed to relieve them of their own suffering. Listen to what one pastor had to say about this:
“Some pastors struggle with the appropriateness of receiving help that isn’t exclusively theological or specifically Scriptural in approach. Others are so used to being the ones giving help that they find it difficult to receive any. And, of course, some question the ministry of Christian therapy altogether. I was a member of the second and third groups, especially the third. “The Scriptures are my therapist,” I would say, “and they don’t charge me a hundred dollars per hour for the service.”
Certainly the Bible contributed much to my recovery. Its comforts were amazing; its instructions of insight incredible. But being forced by my circumstances to ask for help from an able counselor changed my entire outlook. Without that wonderful man’s prayer, honest questioning, and practical help, I don’t know how long it would have taken me to heal—or if I ever would have. I continue to find strength and guidance from the Word of God, but in it I read about the importance of Christian community in discerning the deep things of the Spirit. In my experience with depression, the Bible was good, even excellent. But it was the Bible in partnership with a gifted, discerning therapist that God used to loosen me from the hands of this unrelenting monster called ‘depression.’”
It is important we know our surroundings and understand our audience at all times during the preaching of the sermon. This is crucial to effectiveness. A sermon is not too long because the clock says so. It is too long if the audience says so. If you are wondering if the people are following you, walk to the outskirts of the platform and watch the heads of the people. If their heads turn as you walk, they are with you. However, if the people refuse to follow you, you need to conclude the sermon as quickly as possible.
As this pastor rightly noted, it is not that prayer and Bible study aren't helpful—most certainly they are. But the experience of depression in these pastors, serving like it did as a persistent emotional alarm system, kept signaling that something was wrong, something to which they very much needed to pay attention. For many, it had to do with some issue or experience that had deeply injured them in the past—and often was continuing to injure them in the present. Ignoring it had only made their lives more debilitated.
It is precisely for this signaling capacity that we use the analogy that depression is to the psychological self as pain is to the physical self. No one likes or seeks pain. Indeed, we have a multi-billion dollar industry designed to find medical ways to eliminate it, or at least to reduce it. Yet the experience of pain is perhaps the most valuable sensory system we have, because it alerts us that something is wrong in our bodies and requires our attention. It is, in effect, the body’s own alarm system, warning us to take immediate action to correct a problem endangering our physical health. The experience of pain is, by design, deliberately negative in order to get our attention. And I think we would all agree that it does a good job in doing just that!
In a similar fashion, we might think of depression as performing the same function as physical pain, only in this case safeguarding our emotional health. Like any alarm system, it is designed ultimately to protect us, even if it too is highly unpleasant when activated. Depression, therefore, is a signal intended to alert us about taking care of an unprocessed or unresolved problem that will otherwise continue to damage our mental health. We may not immediately know how to identify the problem with any degree of accuracy. But that's why it is often wise to consult a Christian professional to help sort out the different issues causing the despair.
It is in this sense that we must understand depression as our ally, not as our enemy. It is itself not the problem, but rather a signal pointing to the problem. As such, we see God’s loving hand in providing us with an internal alarm system that is ultimately designed to protect us from the consequences of ignoring changes we need to make in order to function in an optimal way. When we acknowledge this reality, we are finally in a position to grow in the ways God intended. We cannot always change what we face, but it is certain that nothing will change if we refuse to face it.
One of the sticking points for some Christian leaders is the near-universal experience of low self-esteem among those struggling with depression. Just talking about the importance of self-esteem in the believer strikes some as uncomfortably similar to the narcissism inherent in New Age spirituality. But the truth is that a healthy self-esteem is at the heart of God's desire for us to see ourselves through His eyes of love. He sees us as having inestimable worth (Psa. 8), a fact that was dramatically demonstrated by the Cross. If we were without value to Him, then His redemptive work on our behalf would be utterly senseless. But because we are highly valued, there is inherent logic in every action of grace God has taken to rescue us from our ill-begotten state.
God isn't just loving; He is love (John 4). We were created in His image, and since that which is created in His image must be lovable or it would violate His own character, we must therefore bear that same stamp of love. To be sure, there is a difference here between our person and our behavior. The latter is certainly not always lovable; indeed, it all too often leaves the indelible footprint of sin.
But it is our person that is the subject of God's unfailing love and the impetus for His desire that we see ourselves through his eyes. As A.W. Tozer once put it, “God never had bad thoughts about anybody, and He never has bad thoughts about anybody.”
Incredible as it may seem, when we actually see ourselves from God's perspective, we are at long last liberated to reach out to others in humble service without constantly worrying about whether we will be accepted. Instead of thinking less of ourselves, we are now free to think of ourselves less. Is this not the love that Christ bid us to demonstrate?
Of course, none of this is true for depressed people who have low self-esteem. They are typically imprisoned by a host of lies about their own person that keep them forever preoccupied with self (e.g., by incessantly telling themselves how stupid they are, how hopeless they are, how inadequate they are, how worthless they are, and so on). With the mantra, “What will others think, and will they love me?” running through their heads, they are terrified by the possibility of rejection or abandonment, however remote that outcome might be. As a result, they cannot serve others without at least some form of subtle manipulation, even if it is merely placating others in their desperate attempts to achieve some kind of positive recognition for their efforts.
Anything less constitutes that dreaded experience that confirms to them their own sense of worthlessness. You can see, then, that underlying much of depressed person’s behavior is the compulsion to identify virtually any emotional payoff they can find that will, at least temporarily, anesthetize them from feeling unlovable or inadequate. Regardless of all the Christian admonitions about selfless giving, their world is instead inevitably (and painfully) all about them.
You might be asking at this point, “But what about the biblical notion of denying yourself and taking up your cross? Doesn’t that suggest that the desire for higher self-esteem is spiritually misdirected?” At first glance, it might seem so; but upon closer examination, there is actually a major difference between denying your selfish ambitions—which Jesus taught—and the self-denial of emotional impoverishment, which is often taught in dysfunctional homes of origin. The first focuses on our tendency to revert back to our sinful nature, while the second is centered on a proclivity for self-condemnation. The first keeps our eyes on Jesus, but the second keeps our attention trained on our self-hatred. The important thing is that it is denial of self that opens our minds to God's storehouse of delights, where our deepest desires are fulfilled (Psa. 37:4). But self-denial inflexibly closes our minds to any possibility of a better life.
Selfish desire has never been a part of God’s plan. But, for an entirely different reason, neither has self-denial. The former is the case because it is a transgression of God’s law, the latter because it is the product of irrational thinking. Ironically, self-denial is far more compatible with the non-Christian, Far Eastern monastic lifestyle in which self-imposed deprivation has been, both philosophically and culturally, a common way of life for nearly 3,000 years. The only difference is that, with those who struggle with low self-esteem, it means more emotional than material deprivation, though it can mean both. The significant point here is that it refers, in one way or another, to the legalistic notion that engaging in such deprivation (including putting yourself down) is something laudable, as if it successfully passes for humility.
Yet, contrary to expectations, self-denial doesn’t lead to the spiritual growth people hope for, but rather leads to a wrenching battle with spiritual emptiness. Worse still, self-denial emotionally drives a wedge of fear (mainly of failure) into our God-given peace of mind. While there is no doubt that selfishness invokes God's anger, the same is not true of self-hatred. Instead, it arouses only His sadness. Though we may condemn ourselves, Jesus made it plain that condemnation of our person is not the verdict of His creation (Jn. 8:3-11). The great delusion occurs when we attribute our sense of rejection to God instead of correctly attributing it to our own projection. In the end, this is but another example of the final fruits of self-deception.
So it is incumbent upon each one of us as believers to encourage one another to emerge from the closet of our emotional struggles and false beliefs without fear of condemnation or discrimination. We must cultivate a Christian community that plays a healing role in believers’ lives, one that is notable to the secular world for a love that holds nothing back. Indeed, it must be a love that stands quite apart from the environment of judgmentalism that sometimes mars the Christian witness.
To be biblically sound is to be psychologically accurate. To abide in Scripture is to live in the promise of God's purpose for our lives, a purpose that confers upon us the dignity of our creation. As theologian Haddon Robinson has pointed out, God does not love us because we are good, but because we are precious. It is confusion on this matter that prompts us to depart from God's appreciation of our value. Is it any wonder, therefore, that we are correspondingly predisposed to depression?
Gary H. Lovejoy, Ph.D. co-authored Light on the Fringe: Finding Hope in the Darkness of Depressionwith Gregory Knopf, M.D. and has been conducting his private counseling practice for over 30 years. He earned a master’s degree in religious education from Fuller Theological Seminary and completed his doctorate in psychology while attending United States International University. He continues an active practice with Valley View Counseling Services, LLC in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Lovejoy was a professor of both psychology and religion at Mt. Hood Community College for 32 years. He has conducted numerous seminars on depression and has been the keynote speaker at many family camps, couple’s retreats and college conferences. Contact Dr. Lovejoy at ITLCommunications.com or (877) ITL-3762.
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