Is Depression a Sin?

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I want to thank all of you who have spoken up on this thread, especially Loyola Rambler, who has gone to the trouble to pull up some extremely telling documents.

I was really shocked on that other thread (the one on whether or not mothers should work outside the home) by the attitudes expressed by some people there, and I’m very glad to find that not everyone seems to agree with such antediluvian ideas.

And Maggie, I knew that business of saying “God needs help” was going to get me in trouble! I was sort of thinking of the old adage, “the gods help those who help themselves,” but even that isn’t quite right. So I apologize to anyone who was offended by that – I simply meant that we do perhaps need to take advantage of such earthly cures that are at our disposal.

Naprous
 
Naprous as one who has suffered from anxiety and depression my whole life, I wish I can say it is a sin. It would be much easier to deal with.
The fact is, one can have this outstanding connection with God and still be depressed.
To say if only a person with heart disease was closer to God, they wouldn’t have heart disease anymore is a ridiculous statement.
The same goes for depression.
I will state though, when I was in counseling the psychologist did encourage regular religious service attendance. I am sure it helps to be around people and have hope but it certainly is not a cure all.
Also, what really made all the difference in the world were meds. They may not work for everyone and they have some undesirable side effects, but they do help.
 

However, drugs are often prescribed in lieu of counseling when in reality people with some chemically-based depression can benefit from both.​

I have found drugs such as Prozac and Paxil to help more than some “well meaning” professional type.
 
If someone had broken their leg after being involved in an accident they didn’t cause, would you say they had sinned? No of course not, there is sickness of body and mind and both are connected and both are fragile , as we all know human life is fragile and hangs by a thread which is held by the will of God and sustained by Him and Him alone. If someone remains ill though they receive treatment for the broken leg? would you say they had lost hope? Depression isn’t a sin, it is an illness and a legitimate one brought on either by chemical imbalance or because someone who has had to endure sufferance so much so they have become low in mood. The very fact they are depressed doesn’t mean they have lost hope or sinned against hope, the very fight against depression is their hope! They don’t fight depression alone, they have their helpers on earth and their greatest help Christ Jesus, The Holy Spirit and God our Father. The Church provides for the health of both mind and body in the sacraments of, penance and reconciliation and the anointing of the sick. It is misinformed to deem someone as commiting a sin because they are depressed, as much as it would be to say someone has sinned because they have a broken leg.
 
I cannot believe that ANYONE would be uncharitablel enough to say that depression was a SIN…Good Grief! Get a life…if that is what you think…We have known that depression is a treatable illness for some time now…It’s no worse (spiritually speaking) than being a diabetic and having to take meds for that condition on a daily basis, ditto for heart patients…I really get angry over this kind of thing…Looking for sin where none exists is…awful, for want of a better word…
 
I have noticed something about the general thrust of these comment boards and it is an obsession with sin…why are you obsessing with sin, why are you thinking negatively? Why are you not thinking about the joy of faith, or what you can do to please God , rather than waste all your time worrying about sin? Dare you not live your lives for fear of sinning? Live your life it is God given and think about how to please him rather than look for sins and obsess about sin. xx
 
the obsession over sin is a serious spiritual malady, commonly known as scruples, which the Church does teach to avoid. many saints have written about how to over come the scruples.

i think there are some misunderstandings about depression. depression that is a psychological and medical disorder is certainly not what is sinful.

there are some people who are really in love with sadness and despair, but are not clinically depressed. and then there are some who do have a disposition towards depression who purposely dwell in “poetic apathy and despair” when they know that is not healthy for them, cuz they can literally drive themselves into depression that way. i think these last two examples have to do with an extreme form of a “sinful spirit” known as accedie, or the “noon-day devil”, which was converted to be known as the deadly sin of “sloth.”

it’s like alcoholism. drinking isn’t unhealthy or sinful in of itself unless you abuse alcohol, especially if you do so to the point of addiction. but some people are predisposed to becoming alcoholic and if they’re aware of this, they should avoid abusing alcohol. but once you become an alcoholic, there are times you will lose a lot of control of yourself, and the guilt behind any alcohol abuse you do as an alcoholic does not make you culpable for the sin. however, if you’re in a time of thinking clearly, and you know you shouldn’t have a drink so that you can avoid an ‘alcoholic episode,’ then you shouldn’t and if you do so anyway when you know you can stop yourself, you’re committing a sin.

does any of this make sense???
 
it makes alot of sense. There are people who aren’t clinically depressed but wallow in sadness because they think it’s “cool.” The stereotypical art students wearing black and writing poems of woe…it makes me really mad as someone who has really suffered from depression to see others romanticizing it like that.

Speaking of scruples, I think that often people with scruples might have an underlying anxiety disorder, maybe OCD. I had a good friend with the problem and sadly she never sought professional help because she only saw it as a spiritual problem. It certainly is a spiritual problem, but definitely has some underlying psychological factors, at least in her case.
 
Depression is not a sin against hope. Despair is a sin against hope. (Although there are all kinds of mitigating factors, for example, chemical imbalance type depression.)
 
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Olympia:
Depression is not a sin against hope. Despair is a sin against hope. (Although there are all kinds of mitigating factors, for example, chemical imbalance type depression.)
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Bingo! But there are people who have confused despair with depression. They’re not interchangeable terms in Catholic theology. Despair is giving up on your salvation. Depression is just that…profound sadness or mental anguish that can have any number of non-spiritual causes.
 
I have been curled in a fetal position in the basement, pounded by waves of “mental anguish” Couldn’t even pray, but deep deep within my soul, I hoped in God, EVEN as I was bombarded with violent temptations to suicide. By His Grace, I endured … I persevered in my anguish. I found His victory. I do not believe for a moment that at my darkest and most painful moments, I was commiting a sin.By His Grace, those moments were purifying and brought to my benefit. It has been speculated by some theologins, that St. John of the Cross, as well as St. Theresa of Avila suffered from what would today be called “depression.” They are a beautiful example of what God can do with with something as painful as depression, if given to him.
BTW, my depression was situational, not chemical.

On another note, situational depression means one has a REASON to be sad. It is said, to not be sad when you have a reason to be sad would be indicative of a mental disorder. It is possible to be sad WITH GOD.
 
This is gonna sound really corny and hokey, but there have been times when all hope seemed lost when I’ve held on only because I saw a flickering vision of what I still thought my future could be, of the great work I could still one day do, and have faintly heard the voices of my future children telling me to not give up, for their sakes if nothing else.

I realize how silly that sounds. Maybe I’ve seen too many melodramatic old movies.
 
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seeker63:
This is gonna sound really corny and hokey, but there have been times when all hope seemed lost when I’ve held on only because I saw a flickering vision of what I still thought my future could be, of the great work I could still one day do, and have faintly heard the voices of my future children telling me to not give up, for their sakes if nothing else.

I realize how silly that sounds. Maybe I’ve seen too many melodramatic old movies.
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I don’t think it sounds silly at all. God speaks to us in many ways, I think the key phrase in your quote is “when all hope seemed lost”. Catholics rightly point out that we cannot base our faith on feelings. Feelings can deceive us. Why is it that many Catholics understand this, but some insist that the feelings themselves are sinful. I think the majority of those that are depressed, would choose otherwise if they could. Whereas those who pursue sin, do so for some perceived pleasure. Where is the pleasure in depression?
I do believe it is possible to suffer depression without despair, and also to suffer despair without depression. It is a mistake to assume that where there is one, there is the other. And temptation to despair, is not the same as despair. In the same way, someone may have intrusive and tempting lustful thoughts without consenting. It shouldn’t be too hard to understand that there are those that are tempted to despair, without ever consenting. I have read of many Saints, including Saint Terese of the Little Flower, that were tempted horribly by suicidal thoughts.
I am typing too much because I am having trouble voicing my thoughts on this. I hope this makes sense.

God bless
 
My dh suffers from depression and when I first saw this in him, I was very upset and confused but never did I ever think he was a sinner because of it. Depression, like alcoholism, is a chemical inbalance which is usually inherited by a parent and/or grandparent and should never be confused with sin!
 
Good Morning Church

First, let me say that each one of you suffering from this painful desease is in my prayers and I will be offering my Communions for you. I do believe God heals and depend on Him every day of my life. He also gives us a great great gift and that is people of Science. I thank Him for that and the fact that by His Grace, my life has been extended at their hands.

I hope my experience can help someone here.
When I was very young, in my early 20s, I suffered with anxiety/depression. I had had a very traumatic childhood and most of us blamed my illness on that. I went through 2 years of extreme suffering. They did not have the drugs that are out there today. I took lots of tranquilizers. I also grew steadily in my faith. I developed a good prayer life.
During this time I spent much time in couseling, my family doctor was boards certified in several specialties, psychiatry was one of them (so was pediatrics, what a doctor). He was such a blessing from God, he was also a Christian. He did numerous blood studies that showed nothing out of line.
He finally told me that in spite of normal tests for thyroid, he wanted to try me on a drug for over active thyroid. He said he had been suspicious that my problem was medical rather than just psycological (This was nearly 50 years ago). He put me on a med and within 2 weeks I was better. In a months time, I had not one episode of anxiety. He kept me on this medication for about 6-8 weeks and then weaned me off. I never had another bout with anxiety/depression.
He said the only way he could explain it is that sometime, for some unknown reason the thyroid speeds up and sticks. He compared it with a gas pedal on a car.
I never had another problem down through the years until I was 60 and started feeling extremely tired and lacking energy. My doctor took blood tests, everything showed normal. Nothing out of whack. My symptoms continued and my doctor got suspicious. He said he suspected my thyroid. Even with normal tests. This is with modern bloodwork. He put me on thyroid meds and whamo! Symptoms dissapeared.
It is really strange because after my cancer surgery and during radiation, I was not able to swallow a pill. I quit the medication for a few months. There was no way I could tell if I had symptoms or not after having a third of my lung removed and 7 weeks of radiation therapy. Everything felt lousy.
At any rate, a few months later my Internist did blood work and my thyroid showed low.
The point is, I know from my own experience there are more than one medical reason for anxiety/depression. Hyperactive thyroid can cause these symptoms too and they do not always show on blood tests. When one has been ill for a very long period and the usual meds do not help, it never hurts to explore other things.
 
loyola rambler:
Bingo! But there are people who have confused despair with depression. They’re not interchangeable terms in Catholic theology. Despair is giving up on your salvation. Depression is just that…profound sadness or mental anguish that can have any number of non-spiritual causes.
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You beat me to it, loyola rambler! This is exactly the point I was going to make. Despair is the sin, not depression. I find it interesting that the people with the least profound knowledge of human nature are also the ones who seem to be so judgmental and lacking in compassion on these discussion boards. A simple trip to the dictionary would have prevented these armchair theologians from making this elementary mix-up in the first place.
 
antediluvian - naprous, thanks for introducing me to a new word.

secondly,

meds are to depression what
insulin is to diabetics
and
nitroglycerine is to angina.

it’s a treatment for a medical condition.
when the right meds are given, and a lot of time patients need to cycle once or twice or even more to find the right meds that act on the proper chemicals in appropriate quantities to find relief.
but depression should ALWAYS be treated by a doctor. it IS a medical condition and counseling and/or medication is the best way to treat the disease…

this is the definitive answer to this question posted to start this thread.
 
In my experience, I have found that people who are depressed pray alot.
 
antediluvian - naprous, thanks for introducing me to a new word.

secondly,

meds are to depression what
insulin is to diabetics
and
nitroglycerine is to angina.

it’s a treatment for a medical condition.
when the right meds are given, and a lot of time patients need to cycle once or twice or even more to find the right meds that act on the proper chemicals in appropriate quantities to find relief.
but depression should ALWAYS be treated by a doctor. it IS a medical condition and counseling and/or medication is the best way to treat the disease…

this is the definitive answer to this question posted to start this thread.
 
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seeker63:
This is gonna sound really corny and hokey, but there have been times when all hope seemed lost when I’ve held on only because I saw a flickering vision of what I still thought my future could be, of the great work I could still one day do, and have faintly heard the voices of my future children telling me to not give up, for their sakes if nothing else.

I realize how silly that sounds. Maybe I’ve seen too many melodramatic old movies.
Click to expand...
In my world, we call them Guardian Angels…the ones who can reach you when all else fails and show you the light at the end of the tunnel.
 
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