What a CAF member should know...

[Pfaffenhoffen]

The other day, when someone said that he/she was depressed and with suicide thoughts, I just said that he/she should go to the doctor…fast…

Next I receive a PM from a nice person who said that I did not pray and only said to go to a doctor and that from what she knew my views were hetherodox.

Begginning from the second part, everybody says that I am crazy. Not that I am not a normal person, for I am, but they say that I think outside the mainstream. It is not that they do not agree most of the time with me, but feel that I am crazy for my ideas are too demanding. I think my ideas are normal, but I have to live with it. And, of course, I am non-Hetherodox Catholic Person.

And then, when I see acall for prayer, I pray but I do not write that I pray.

Now, coming to depression, one the most common disease in the West (click to see), it may be easily mixed up with philosophical question or religious matters.

The symptoms are known (click to see: one; two and more if you google it)

Depression should not be taken lightly for there is a risk of suicide and if we give a misguided advice, you may incur in the responsability of the suicide.

Everybody knows that depressed people, people who talk about suicide should go to the doctor…FAST, as fast as he can. It is not easy, for the depressed people thinks that he/she is all right. That his or her views of the World (all Black) are right. And what he/she says are right things: there is always disease, deaths, scandals, prodophilie, wars, corruption. But the way he/she sees it is a depressed way. So he/she needs to be forced by parents and relatives to go to the doctor, otherwise he/she wont go.

I think we should pray as much as possible, but God acts through doctors too. It is not EITHER God (prayer) EITHER the doctors. A friend of mine died of a breast cancer for instead of going to the doctor, she prayed for a miracle. Another vey Catholic one, He was a very proud minister or Communion, the day he ritired he got depressed for he was a hyper-active person. 16 months later, he jumped from a window.

Do not believe in me. But, everyone that gives advice on depression whould study thouroughly the question (plenty of resources in the net, just Google it). Just do not judge depressed people as lacing faith, not truting in life, seeing things black. These are not the causes but the symptoms.

And we should be careful to say just “I pray for you…” or " Pray to Jesus Christ or such and such saint…" that is something that he surely has been doing for he is a Catholic. I repeat that to know exactly the causes, the symptoms and the medicines ( which I do not mention here for it is up to the doctor) is essential to give a good advice.

Remember that the brain is the Last frontier of Medicine (togehter with genes). Doctors know little about the brain. But when we hear that the feelings of love come from the brain (!!!), stange things are being discovered.

I would not be in peace with my conscience if I did not post this.

 

[Pacbox]

First of all, your advice in regards to the person with depression was orthodox, right on, and in line with CAF rules.

Depression, well all mental illnesses, are misunderstood especially because of the stigma attached. Too many people think and perpetuate the idea that a mental illness is the fault of the individual because they weren’t (fill in the blank) enough. Mental illness has a biochemical component meaning that there are actual physical parts of the body involved in mental illness, in this case the brain. The brain isn’t functioning properly. That’s not good and that’s not healthy.

Depression, depending on the severity, does have a great risk of suicide. A person who is having suicidal thoughts should go to the doctor or call 911 immediately. This is for their health and safety, not a judgement against them that they failed in some manner.

Now should we pray for these people? Yes but that isn’t the only thing we can do. We, if we are in that person’s life in real life (outside of the forums) should be part of that person’s support system. We shouldn’t judge but be supportive and loving.

Society, and even in Catholic circles, has the idea that everything is the result of some failure on our part (some bad decision) and that if we just picked ourselves up and started doing then everything would be fine. This completely misses the point that people and problems are very complex and a simple solution rarely works. God is not a vending machine of cures. Pray but seek treatment as well.

Something also to note: symptoms of depression may not be indicative of depression but another medical issue. That’s why a doctor has to be the one to diagnose the problem and proscribe the treatment. They are trained for it. We lay people are not.

 

[roveau]

If the person posted in the Prayer Intentions forum, the person was seeking prayers not advice. That’s what the Prayer Intentions threads are for.

You can’t assume that the person wouldn’t be aware that the person needs to seek professional help for the depression. One, whether a parent, friend or relative, can not force someone to seek a doctor (if they are an adult). Our Lord does work through doctors but prayers are, in my view, equally important, but to avoid going to a doctor when there was something seriously wrong would be displeasing to the Lord.

In conclusion, if the person asked for prayers, give that person prayers. If they seek advice, give them advice.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

A number of thoughts have occured to me that I think I’ll keep to myself, except for this one.

I’ve seen some threads dealing with suicide get closed, with a message along the lines of Catholic Answers has contacted them directly and is trying to get them the help they need (that’s from memory; maybe it was something a little different). What I’m thinking is, when we encounter something like this should we report the post or in some other way contact someone at Catholic Answers about the subject so they can be aware of it and decide what to do?

 

[St_Francis]

A number of thoughts have occured to me that I think I’ll keep to myself, except for this one.

I’ve seen some threads dealing with suicide get closed, with a message along the lines of Catholic Answers has contacted them directly and is trying to get them the help they need (that’s from memory; maybe it was something a little different). What I’m thinking is, when we encounter something like this should we report the post or in some other way contact someone at Catholic Answers about the subject so they can be aware of it and decide what to do?

I always think it is better to do something like contact the mods and end up looking follish if the situation is not so dire then to err in the opposite direction. The mods have a lot of posts to watch out for and (hopefully) appreciate any help we can give. (I imagine a mod will correct me if I am wrong!)

 

[Julian_Peters]

I always think it is better to do something like contact the mods and end up looking follish if the situation is not so dire then to err in the opposite direction. The mods have a lot of posts to watch out for and (hopefully) appreciate any help we can give. (I imagine a mod will correct me if I am wrong!)

You are correct, St Francis. Suicide threads are obviously sensitive (emotionally and time-) so we mods would very much appreciate they be reported for proper handling. And you’re right, we mods do indeed have a lot of threads/posts to keep up with so we very much appreciate any help from our Members in alerting us to troublesome posts.