Not so happy New Year
Someone you know is struggling with depression. Maybe it’s your spouse, your dad, your sister, the person you work beside, or maybe it’s you, but someone close to you is experiencing a struggle with depression.
How do I know? Because you’re normal and the facts suggest that one out of every five normal persons will at some point in their life experience depression or some other mental health illness serious enough to require treatment. In fact, best estimates are that upwards of ten per cent of us are experiencing a major depressive episode at any point in time. Let the math sink in.
The last census numbers I saw listed the population of the region (Census Metropolitan Area) of Kelowna as 194,882 people. 27,673 of that number are under 15 years of age leaving a mid-teen and adult population of 167,209. Unless we are drastically different than other areas of North America that means approximately 16,720 of us are battling some form of mood disorder this very moment.
The news is worse if you’re female. For some reason you have an even higher rate of depression than men. Some have suggested the reason is due to issues like hormones and postpartum depression however one gal suggested it is most likely because you have to live with men.
In any case, depression is the unhappy secret in many of our lives.
I am not pretending to be a mental health professional, I’m not, but I am a pastor and I am vitally interested in personal and communal well-being. In the case of depression much of its damage occurs because although much is known about it, a significant amount of that knowledge remains hidden and distorted by stereotyping. With the help of agencies like Canadian Mental Health Association huge strides have been achieved but many more remain to be taken.
Of particular interest to me as a Christian pastor is the fact that many people assume depression is primarily a spiritual issue. The belief is that if people would only pray more or get closer to God their depression would lift. The correlating thought is that their depression must therefore be caused by a lack of prayerfulness or their straying from God. I am certainly a proponent of prayer and closeness to God, however, the fallacy of that line of thinking lies in a serious misunderstanding of the causes of depression. When we make depression a spiritual issue only, we tend to ignore things like genetics, social and environmental issues and neurobiological factors, all of which play a role.
A while back I spent some time with a retired psychiatrist who put it this way. “Should Christians pray about their depression? Sure, just as they’d pray about their appendicitis. However, with their appendicitis they would be well advised to say those prayers while on the way to see a surgeon. Same principle applies to depression. Don’t ignore the medical implications of mood disorders, engage professional help.”
If your 2019 is starting off on a dark note and that darkness lasts longer than a couple weeks I urge you to not suffer in silence. Talk to a wise friend describing exactly how you feel. Don’t hesitate to seek professional help. If in crisis, call for help loudly and keep calling till someone answers. You’re worth it and there is help and hope for your future. And yes, while you’re doing all that, whisper a prayer. God does hear and He does care.