Warning: Jen is venting. Take my words in light of this last sentence. Thank you!<\/b><\/p>\n
People like this<\/a> irritate me. It’s nice that depression doesn’t happen to Christians in their little sterile fundamentalist college world; but in the real world, it does and it irritates me every time I get to listen to someone tell me that if I only had hope in God, my depression would magically disappear. Ahem… King David suffered from depression and he had hope — read the Psalms. At least 1\/3 of them are not happy in the least.<\/p>\n The five years before I was formally diagnosed were incredibly difficult. I was suicidal, had problems dealing with stress, had times when I couldn’t stop crying, and got diagnosed only because my threshold for stress had broken and it was affecting my life. Fall 1999 was one of the toughest times in my life and I remember times when I couldn’t stop crying and nights when I tossed and turned, keeping my roommate awake. The meds helped to take the edge off so that I could eventually start dealing with things in therapy; but I still had occasional weeks where I couldn’t stop crying. It’s been almost two years since I ceased medication and therapy and I’ve been fine; but it was during that time that I learned the necessary coping skills to deal with living with depression and PTSD daily.<\/p>\n The thing that aggravates me the most is that this person talks about all of my suffering as a consequence of responding unbiblically. Uh yeah… so I’m basically supposed to lie and pretend to be all happy when inwardly I want to crawl into a hole and die??? I believe that acting that way is sinful because we’re attempting to deceive God, ourselves, and others by making it appear that we are doing well when we aren’t. *THAT* is unbiblical and it denies God the chance to grow us. I found that my tears were a better (and more healing) witness than pretending all waa good and I found that the Lord worked more strongly through the times when I admitted my pain than He did during the times before my diagnosis when I was trying to pretend that everything was all right.<\/p>\n I will admit that I think doctors overprescribe anti-depressants and people use them as happy pills. Depression is something that many people live with daily; but some don’t really need the medication and use it to escape their problems. This is why I think treatment should be a holistic thing: treat the mind, the body, and the spirit. Medication, perhaps a change in diet or exercise, counselling, and (if it is appropriate) something devotional would be a thought. I’m not currently on meds or in therapy; but I also do things to control my depression such as pray, meditate, keep my stress level down (or at least try), blog, go for walks, make sure I get enough sleep, make sure my diet is balanced, and pet my cats. (The last one lowers my blood pressure and is calming. It works. Trust me.)<\/p>\n OK… Jen is getting off her soapbox and curling up with her fluffball now… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Warning: Jen is venting. Take my words in light of this last sentence. Thank you! People like this irritate me. It’s nice that depression doesn’t happen to Christians in their little sterile fundamentalist college world; but in the real world, … Continue reading