In offering pastoral counseling over the years, especially to my college students, one of the things I've noticed is an overlap between doubt and depression.
As a therapist, I find that there is truly a lack of meaning and purpose in the lives of so many. Jobs are not connected to benefitting others, our values in society are not focused on community benefit, many families are in trouble with high rates of estrangement, and people can be utilitarian and pleasure focused... which does not feed the soul. There is an emptiness.. a malaise, and yes.. it is a road to depression. Richard has pointed out in the past what has happened as a result of losing a shared guide that we believe to be a God given set of rules by which we are agree to abide by. We embrace relativism that ends up being empty and meaningless. There is no definition of right and wrong... and we lose our grounding. We already have. Our corrupt, planet-destroying, job-destroying, judgmental, and materialistic society ends up eating it's own. Of course, depression.
What if the faith is strong, stronger than any doubt, and the depression comes from visualizing what faith assures us is coming soon, namely all apocalyptic hell breaking loose on this ol' world, not only between nations but in every family on Earth. Sure, sure, after that comes Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords and eventually Glory. But the ride from here to there sure is gonna be horrific, huh!
I'm not really talking about Christians who struggle with depression. I'm mainly talking about the coincidence of faith crises and depression and their interrelationship.
OK . . . fair enough . . . but if your patient isn’t a Christian, then depression is the least of their problems . . . or so says our Christian faith, right?
This is the emotional place my wife and I find ourselves when talking about the future. Jesus was the Man of sorrow, intimately acquainted with grief, and we're called to pick up our cross and follow. He told us we would have tribulation, grief, temptations to despair, just like He did. Scary thing to face.
"Death smiles at us all," said Marcus Aurelius, "All a man can do is smile back."
"I am the Resurrection and the Life," said Jesus Christ, "Anyone who believes in me will Live even if they die. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
In my life travels, I have found that the the loss of hope is what leads to the downward spiral. Faith actually can still survive if you have doubts (just look at Doubting Thomas), however what quickly withers the soul is when you lose hope in...well, just about anything, God, the goodness of humanity, a significant relationship, basically the things that make life worthwhile. Hope allows for any number of things to happen and keeps us open to possibilities we couldn’t even imagine. Hope is what connects us to the Source of Life which sustains us during challenging times and without it, it's really hard to have someone to dig out of the pit of despair when they perceive that life is random, meaningless and/or feel/believe that God has abandoned them.
I agree, and that makes me think about Romans, which points out that our suffering can lead to hope, through endurance developing our character. I think depression comes easily when we believe that our suffering serves no purpose, that nothing will ever get better, etc. Other commenters have pointed to a loss of meaning and purpose in our society; I think we have to look outside ourselves to find purpose. Self-actualization can’t be the end goal, but a means to an end of loving others.
Thank you for teasing out the connections between spiritual crises (doubt, deconstruction) and depression. I agree that the “dysphoria” of a spiritual crisis can lead to depression.
As a therapist, I find that there is truly a lack of meaning and purpose in the lives of so many. Jobs are not connected to benefitting others, our values in society are not focused on community benefit, many families are in trouble with high rates of estrangement, and people can be utilitarian and pleasure focused... which does not feed the soul. There is an emptiness.. a malaise, and yes.. it is a road to depression. Richard has pointed out in the past what has happened as a result of losing a shared guide that we believe to be a God given set of rules by which we are agree to abide by. We embrace relativism that ends up being empty and meaningless. There is no definition of right and wrong... and we lose our grounding. We already have. Our corrupt, planet-destroying, job-destroying, judgmental, and materialistic society ends up eating it's own. Of course, depression.
What if the faith is strong, stronger than any doubt, and the depression comes from visualizing what faith assures us is coming soon, namely all apocalyptic hell breaking loose on this ol' world, not only between nations but in every family on Earth. Sure, sure, after that comes Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords and eventually Glory. But the ride from here to there sure is gonna be horrific, huh!
I'm not really talking about Christians who struggle with depression. I'm mainly talking about the coincidence of faith crises and depression and their interrelationship.
OK . . . fair enough . . . but if your patient isn’t a Christian, then depression is the least of their problems . . . or so says our Christian faith, right?
This is the emotional place my wife and I find ourselves when talking about the future. Jesus was the Man of sorrow, intimately acquainted with grief, and we're called to pick up our cross and follow. He told us we would have tribulation, grief, temptations to despair, just like He did. Scary thing to face.
"Death smiles at us all," said Marcus Aurelius, "All a man can do is smile back."
"I am the Resurrection and the Life," said Jesus Christ, "Anyone who believes in me will Live even if they die. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
I've bet my eternal soul on Jesus Christ.
In my life travels, I have found that the the loss of hope is what leads to the downward spiral. Faith actually can still survive if you have doubts (just look at Doubting Thomas), however what quickly withers the soul is when you lose hope in...well, just about anything, God, the goodness of humanity, a significant relationship, basically the things that make life worthwhile. Hope allows for any number of things to happen and keeps us open to possibilities we couldn’t even imagine. Hope is what connects us to the Source of Life which sustains us during challenging times and without it, it's really hard to have someone to dig out of the pit of despair when they perceive that life is random, meaningless and/or feel/believe that God has abandoned them.
I agree, and that makes me think about Romans, which points out that our suffering can lead to hope, through endurance developing our character. I think depression comes easily when we believe that our suffering serves no purpose, that nothing will ever get better, etc. Other commenters have pointed to a loss of meaning and purpose in our society; I think we have to look outside ourselves to find purpose. Self-actualization can’t be the end goal, but a means to an end of loving others.
Thank you for teasing out the connections between spiritual crises (doubt, deconstruction) and depression. I agree that the “dysphoria” of a spiritual crisis can lead to depression.