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Eddie89
Guest
Does anyone know of any biblical (OT or NT) stories about and recoveries from the affliction of Depression? I can only think of Cain and perhaps the distress felt by Adam and Eve.
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fhansen
Guest
Davids’ words in Psalms 42 & 43 always seemed to speak of depression to me.
R
reen12
Guest
quote: Eddie89
Clinical depression is a medical illness - just as are diabetes,
or Altzheimers disease, or any other medical illness.
Medical treatment for clinical depression is available, thanks be.
Having endured depression, since childhood, I have often
found the book of Psalms to be of help.
The psalms are available, online, at this website:
nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/#psalms
Then, too, there are things that Jesus said, that might
comfort the heart.
“Come to me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…” Matt. 11:28.
Knowing that there is medical treatment, for clinical depression,
makes me think of the psalm, number 117.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good…
His mercy endures forever.
I am in the hope that other posters might offer additional
biblical references, in addressing your question.
Best wishes, Eddie89,
reen12
Hello, Eddie89. Welcome to CAF.
Clinical depression is a medical illness - just as are diabetes,
or Altzheimers disease, or any other medical illness.
Medical treatment for clinical depression is available, thanks be.
Having endured depression, since childhood, I have often
found the book of Psalms to be of help.
The psalms are available, online, at this website:
nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/#psalms
Then, too, there are things that Jesus said, that might
comfort the heart.
“Come to me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…” Matt. 11:28.
Knowing that there is medical treatment, for clinical depression,
makes me think of the psalm, number 117.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good…
His mercy endures forever.
I am in the hope that other posters might offer additional
biblical references, in addressing your question.
Best wishes, Eddie89,
reen12
C
Cath_aholic
Guest
There is a passage in 1 Kings that was encouraging to me when I felt really depressed. Elijah was running away from Jezebel because she wanted to kill him and after he’d been traveling for a day in the desert, this is what happened:
“He prayed for death: ‘This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’ He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, ‘Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!’ He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.” (1 Kings 19:4-8)
He’d given up. He wanted God to take his life. But the angel provided what he needed to have the strength to keep going and kept encouraging him to move on.
“He prayed for death: ‘This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.’ He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, ‘Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!’ He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.” (1 Kings 19:4-8)
He’d given up. He wanted God to take his life. But the angel provided what he needed to have the strength to keep going and kept encouraging him to move on.
P
PhilotheaZ
Guest
Some of the Psalms have overtones that suggest depression, but often followed by an expression of hope in God. An example is Psalm 102:
1 The prayer of one afflicted and wasting away whose anguish is poured out before the LORD.
2 LORD, hear my prayer; let my cry come to you.
3 Do not hide your face from me now that I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
4 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn away as in a furnace.
5 I am withered, dried up like grass, too wasted to eat my food.
6 From my loud groaning I become just skin and bones.
7 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
8 I lie awake and moan, like a lone sparrow on the roof.
9 All day long my enemies taunt me; in their rage, they make my name a curse.
10 I eat ashes like bread, mingle my drink with tears.
11 Because of your furious wrath, you lifted me up just to cast me down.
12 My days are like a lengthening shadow; I wither like the grass.
13 But you, LORD, are enthroned forever; your renown is for all generations.
14 You will again show mercy to Zion; now is the time for pity; the appointed time has come.
15 Its stones are dear to your servants; its dust moves them to pity.
16 The nations shall revere your name, LORD, all the kings of the earth, your glory,
17 Once the LORD has rebuilt Zion and appeared in glory,
18 Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.
19 Let this be written for the next generation, for a people not yet born, that they may praise the LORD …
I’m not sure whether it was clinical depression, but Elijah had pretty much given up on life and was praying for death, until the Lord sent and angel with bread (a foreshadowing of the Eucharist) to strengthen him (1 Kings 19:3–8):
Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there and went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
Job suffered such great losses (material losses, sickness, the death of his children) that he cursed the day he was born (Job 3:1–11):
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!” May that day be darkness: let not God above call for it, nor light shine upon it! May darkness and gloom claim it, clouds settle upon it, the blackness of night affright it! May obscurity seize that day; let it not occur among the days of the year, nor enter into the count of the months! May that night be barren; let no joyful outcry greet it! … Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light? …
But when Job began to submit himself to God’s will, he went on to live a long, happy life (Job 42:1–17):
Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.
…the LORD restored the prosperity of Job … the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones … After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren. Then Job died, old and full of years.
1 The prayer of one afflicted and wasting away whose anguish is poured out before the LORD.
2 LORD, hear my prayer; let my cry come to you.
3 Do not hide your face from me now that I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
4 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn away as in a furnace.
5 I am withered, dried up like grass, too wasted to eat my food.
6 From my loud groaning I become just skin and bones.
7 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
8 I lie awake and moan, like a lone sparrow on the roof.
9 All day long my enemies taunt me; in their rage, they make my name a curse.
10 I eat ashes like bread, mingle my drink with tears.
11 Because of your furious wrath, you lifted me up just to cast me down.
12 My days are like a lengthening shadow; I wither like the grass.
13 But you, LORD, are enthroned forever; your renown is for all generations.
14 You will again show mercy to Zion; now is the time for pity; the appointed time has come.
15 Its stones are dear to your servants; its dust moves them to pity.
16 The nations shall revere your name, LORD, all the kings of the earth, your glory,
17 Once the LORD has rebuilt Zion and appeared in glory,
18 Heeding the plea of the lowly, not scorning their prayer.
19 Let this be written for the next generation, for a people not yet born, that they may praise the LORD …
I’m not sure whether it was clinical depression, but Elijah had pretty much given up on life and was praying for death, until the Lord sent and angel with bread (a foreshadowing of the Eucharist) to strengthen him (1 Kings 19:3–8):
Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there and went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: “This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
Job suffered such great losses (material losses, sickness, the death of his children) that he cursed the day he was born (Job 3:1–11):
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!” May that day be darkness: let not God above call for it, nor light shine upon it! May darkness and gloom claim it, clouds settle upon it, the blackness of night affright it! May obscurity seize that day; let it not occur among the days of the year, nor enter into the count of the months! May that night be barren; let no joyful outcry greet it! … Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light? …
But when Job began to submit himself to God’s will, he went on to live a long, happy life (Job 42:1–17):
Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.
…the LORD restored the prosperity of Job … the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones … After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren. Then Job died, old and full of years.
S
St_Gabriel
Guest
King Saul (in the old testament) had bouts of depression. Music seemed to uplift him.
T
tessi
Guest
I don´t agree with that. Depression is not like any medical disease. Mental problems are far much more complicated than phisical ones. You don´t have a treatment for depression, you have anestesics, that’s what antidepresives are. We can thank that we have them anyway. In the old days they just had to live with it. But depression is not a medical illness.
L
LindaS
Guest
Actually, Tessi, depression is a medical illness that manifests itself through mental and physical symptoms. It is a malfunction of the neurotransmitters in the brain which control mood, namely serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. That’s why anti-depressants work. They alter the functioning of the neurotransmitters so they work more effectively and relieve the symptoms.
Peace,
Linda
Peace,
Linda
E
EphelDuath
Guest
I always remembered Jesus weeping in Gethsemane when I think of depression.
R
reen12
Guest
National Institute of Mental Health:
nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml
Mental illness may be a complex reality to deal with.
I surely am aware of same - having first sought treatment in 1965.
I rely on professionals for treatment of same,
including a psychologist and a psychiatrist.
My initial reason for purchasing a home computer, several years ago,
was to see what NAMI had to say. [National Alliance for the Mentally Ill]
nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54&ContentID=26414
Because I have been diagnosed with a very serious
psychological disorder, as well as a major mental illness,
I have been in therapy for many years. But that is OK.
I am grateful to God for the many advances that have been
made, over the last 40 years, and that there are professionals
who help me.
reen12
nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml
Mental illness may be a complex reality to deal with.
I surely am aware of same - having first sought treatment in 1965.
I rely on professionals for treatment of same,
including a psychologist and a psychiatrist.
My initial reason for purchasing a home computer, several years ago,
was to see what NAMI had to say. [National Alliance for the Mentally Ill]
nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54&ContentID=26414
Because I have been diagnosed with a very serious
psychological disorder, as well as a major mental illness,
I have been in therapy for many years. But that is OK.
I am grateful to God for the many advances that have been
made, over the last 40 years, and that there are professionals
who help me.
reen12
F
fhansen
Guest
**“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. **
I’ve heard that some say “poor in spirit” has something to do with rich folk being unattached to their wealth. However, I’ve always taken this phrase to mean, especially considering its context in the Beatitudes, that God has a special place in His heart for the lowly who suffer at the hands of the proud and arrogant. As if to say that it’s better to be an outcast though it means poverty of spirit than to conform to the values of a world such as ours.
I’ve heard that some say “poor in spirit” has something to do with rich folk being unattached to their wealth. However, I’ve always taken this phrase to mean, especially considering its context in the Beatitudes, that God has a special place in His heart for the lowly who suffer at the hands of the proud and arrogant. As if to say that it’s better to be an outcast though it means poverty of spirit than to conform to the values of a world such as ours.
V
valient_Lucy
Guest
Read the Book of Job. It’s definitely there.
B
BennyBoy89
Guest
Depression most certainly IS a medical illness. Antidepressants are not anesthetics; actually they’d be the opposite. Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, which makes thought processes more difficult. Antidepressants help jumpstart the brain to produce the proper amount of chemicals. My doctor and I have had numerous conversations about my condition. I would suggest actually finding out about an illness before you make a rash judgement about it, as any doctor will tell you the opposite of what you have stated.
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