When I visit my home country, the Philippines, I see people living fuller lives
than we do in the U.S. There are plenty of celebrations, friends and family
stay connected, elders are cherished, children are treasured, people spend
the time and money to enjoy the good things in life. Maybe the way we live
our lives in the developed world causes us to be depressed?

posting blind – Depression is a near pandemic levels for a variety of reasons – we’re not reading our bibles, we’re trying to do too much – we move a lot we tend to have few friends – have have several jobs at once – we live in a microwave (instant) society – we’re in too much debt, we follow a poor diet and don’t excerise that much – The list goes on and on really. Just a few ideas.

I am truely amazed; you folks have just left God out!

You have accepted the heathan worlds view of the spirit of man, a spirit that is not going to function according to God’s Holy plan – without Him.

I’m sure Michael is leading us up to this, but it sure sounds like – that you-all have bought the psychological world’s perscription!

Haven’t you ever heard of “Christian Counseling” i.e. Wayne Mack and Jay E. Adams?

[...] wastes 45.625 solid twenty-four hour days a year watching TV. That is terribly sad. Its no wonder so many Americans are depressed–a plastic box that lights up makes for a terrible friend. Come on America–don’t [...]

i just listened to pastor tommy nelson share on focus on the family his own recent battle with clinical depression. it is real and often happens to those who have been very successful.

we need to be more understanding of what depression is and isn’t so that we can help those who struggle with it.

i encourage all of you to listen to the 3-part broadcast at http://www.focusonthefamily.com. the dates for the broadcast were august 18, 19, 20.

he also shared at DTS chapel on 3.27.07.

please listen to these broadcasts.

Ouch! Pyre006, to follow ronquiggins style, you hit a really important point! If the God and the Church are the “Go-to” people for life’s big questions, then why do I feel like a stranger or an unwelcome bum when I step inside? I though accusation, belittlement, and guilt were the tactics of the-other-guy (pointy tail, red horns)?
Jesus’ work on the cross saves us from sin AND GUILT, so we should be happy to be in church, right? If we colud see plainly how much God loves us and with what kind of love, we would drop everything in the world and RUN to Him with open arms! Why can’t we as Christians be that kind of inspiration to others??
If you had a problem with stealing, or adulterous temptations, or any other kind of embarrasing problem, would you feel confident that the church would handle it in the anointed love and truthful discipline of Christ? To be honest, I’m not so sure, but I don’t get out much.
On the other hand, total focus on ourselves just gets us looking in the wrong direction for our solutions, too.
Remember, the world at large doesn’t have a clue about God’s supernatural power to console and heal us, and to make us grow spiritually from the inside out. They have a lot of clever formulas and philosophies, but the best medicine for us, I believe, is the simplicity that is in Christ.

C Barton (#10) & clearblue(#12) have it right. We are a narcissistic society focused on ourselves resulting in a wrong view of God and His sovereignty (and glory) resulting in a yearning within that cannot be satisfied w/o reliance upon the truth of His Word. Most of the rest is fluff.

Having stated this — depresses me!!

Lots of good points have been made. Another factor, I think, is that people seem to be devalued. We go to a store and the service is lousy, you call some technical support line and they put you on hold, we go to work and are treated like slaves, because the people in charge know that there are plenty of customers and employees to take our place. If we don’t like something and complain; who cares? We’re just numbers and there are a hundred more people waiting in line to take our place.

Also, as for Christians with depression, which I think I am one, I wonder if it is the sense that you only have the option of being the perfect, self-righteous jerk or being an unspiritual louse. Someone wrote above that they thought depression was treated as if it were a sign of sinfulness, but it sometimes seems to me that some Christians can make everything, including joy itself, seem like sin; as if feeling rotten was a sign of being righteous. Similar to when Jesus said not to put on a sad face when we fast. Also, as someone else said above, with less time to think of our basic physical needs, there is more time to think about other things, and some will look at their imperfections, coupled with the church’s (sometime) ability to make people feel more guilty than forgiven (not that making people aware of their sins is a bad thing, but I think it goes best when it is followed up with the solution rather than just the sickness), and more like they are on probation with an angry God, then people lose hope, because they aren’t perfect, but they see others who seem to have no trouble with their relationship with God. Also, as was touched upon in one of Michael’s earlier articles, the church doesn’t seem to present itself as a safe haven for people to present their problems, imperfections, confusion or struggles; instead it seems that you have to dress up (in clothes that are far more dignified than what you wear the rest of the week, as if God will not recognize us, I guess) and pretend that you’re this perfect person with no problems; and God help you if you let something out into the open.

Sorry for the long post and I didn’t mean that as a rant or anything; it was really more of a stream of thought.

I agree with Caden in #6 and Alden in #7 and postmodern puritan in #9.

There is certainly a spiritual aspect to it, but that doesn’t preclude there also
being a physical aspect. My husband’s observation – from seeing and trying
to help me in my struggle with depression over 19 years of marriage – is that
attitudes and behavior cause it, but changing attitudes and behavior doesn’t
always make the depression simply go away. His specialty isn’t medicine
(though as a research scientist he worked for a pharmaceutical company),
but his thought there is a physical component to it, both as a cause and a
result, so treatment needs to address both spiritual/emotional and physical.

After our second child was born, he insisted I finally see a doctor, and she
both prescribed medication and referred me to a psychologist, who worked
primarily on me on interacting more with other people. The medicine doesn’t
make me feel particularly different, but he says I smile and laugh a lot more.
And last summer when I started feeling depressed again, it finally occurred to
me that I had cut back the dosage of my medication two months earlier, to
see if I could wean myself off it (with my doctor’s approval). Apparently not.
(Though he did switch me to a different medication to try to minimize side
effects.)

One definite physical cause, and one which could help explain much of the
increased incidence of depression, is sleep deprivation. Both children and
adults stay up too late, playing or watching TV or being in too many
activities. We’ve gotten used to not getting enough sleep, and feel like we’re
functioning OK, but it shows up in higher rates of depression (as well as
accidents at work and on the road). I was amazed, one summer, how my
depression “miraculously” lifted when I got a good night’s sleep every night
for two or three weeks. Unfortunately, I still have trouble getting to bed on
time on a regular basis, as a parent, because the only time I get to myself
is after the boys are in bed (and, with my husband’s current night shift job,
he has left for work – a schedule which unfortunately my body seems to be
trying to match, as I find myself wide awake much later than I used to).

I read somewhere in a Christian book (by a scientist or doctor) that most depression is basically narcissistic self-pity. I suspect there are also chemical causes of depression as well, treated by drugs, but I know that in times when I have been depressed (very rare) it has basically been wallowing in self-centred thinking.

In other words, depression is a function of how hedonistic our society has become, and so is unsurprisingly on the increase. Depression is a form of sinful thinking (Mk. 7:21).