In Another Land

Allow me to tell you what got me started with this blog.

Last year a dear Christian woman suffering from severe depression committed suicide. I attended the funeral, and it was actually a beautiful funeral - people were shocked, many cried, but it was a Christ-oriented funeral: She was honoured as a Christian woman whose legacy won't be forgotten, and her husband gave a moving description of her battle with depression, ending with a call to all present not to take depression lightly, to get help, to take it seriously. And then someone else took the microphone and said: "And beware of negative thoughts. Negative thoughts cause depression..." It was like a kick in the most sensitive place, and it represented the very essence of religious misinformation/abuse about this disorder.

That was the day I decided to start a blog,

Follow up:

to help in my own little way to spread information about what depression really is.

So, does negative thoughts cause depression? Well, it can get you pretty blue if you allow it, but negative thoughts do NOT cause clinical depression. And positive thoughts will NOT cure that depression. Thoughts are profoundly important, and can influence every aspect of our lives, but to make it the causative agent of depression, and use that rubbish to break down the victims of depression even more, is mean and evil and totally incorrect.

Let's not deny the power of our thoughts: I think every human being living on this good earth can testify that negativity can get us really down & blue. But then we normally bounce back, mostly as soon as we stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Things that happen to us (the stuff psychologists call "life-changing events", like losing your job, going through divorce, losing a loved one, severe illness, and the like) and the thoughts going with it can get us, as we say, "into a depro" - but that goes over, sometimes with medical help, sometimes without it. Clinical depression usually does not go away: it is really just the final stage in a process that goes way back in time, a process that has physical causes that need specific treatment and which usually can not be medicated away.

But that does not mean that you don't have to take care of your thought life! Thoughts can substantially aggravate clinical depression, which is why therapy is such an important part of treatment. You have to learn to keep a tight rein on your thoughts: if you allow negativity (the side-kick of depression) to take a hold, it can really intensify your depression, so you have to learn to deal with it. So you learn to watch yourself, to resist the temptation to just give in to the darkness, to avoid negative complaining people, to stay out of situations and circumstances that push you down, but whatever you do does not take the darkness away - not if it is caused by clinical depression.

And that is the saddest truth about depression: Real clinical depression is a chronic condition. It starts off, usually, with a major depressive episode, but once you have been stabilised and started on therapy you invariably discover that the depressive episode was just the final straw in a buildup usually stretching over years of your life. Which is why most people with clinical depression experience their first major episode in adolescence or early adult life - that's when the wall finally gives in under the growing strain.

Unfortunately, by then you have already developed a whole lot of habits & life techniques that prime you for more major episodes - unless you get to a good therapist who helps you to deconstruct the wrong and build a new methodology for dealing with your depression. And this is where you also learn to manage your thought patterns, among other things.

So the bottom line is this: Thoughts do not cause clinical depression, but they play a major role in managing it. Focusing on thoughts alone won't make much difference to depression, but as part of a holistic approach to depression thought management can be one of your most powerful weapons.

The words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 4: 8 & 9 is applicable to the Christian life in general, but even more to managing clinical depression: "Whatever is true...noble...right...pure...lovely... admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." It's hard work, yes, but it's worth it. Avoid dark "depressing" stuff - it might mean cutting some people from your life, giving up some habits, learning new ones, but it's worth it.

Fight on - you're not alone!

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