What Can You Do About Being Depressed?
DEPRESSION presents serious problems for millions of persons today. Does it affect you or persons you love? What can you do, either for yourself or for others, to ease the crushing burden of depression?
Likely you will find it helpful to discuss your distressing circumstances with someone close to you. Seeing a difficult experience through the eyes of another can aid you to develop a more realistic outlook. Often this alone will bring a measure of relief from depression.
At times the reason why individuals become depressed is frustration at daily tasks that are repetitious and boring. Does that describe your situation? If so, some simple changes in the order of your regular routine may help. For instance, tackling the more unpleasant tasks earlier each day will leave later hours for activities that afford greater enjoyment. Another thing you can do from time to time is to seek out a change of pace. Something as simple as taking a walk, a brief period of exercise, or getting away to an area of different surroundings for a weekend or vacation can do much to chase away the “blues.”
One thing that depressed persons must strive to overcome is the temptation to withdraw from other people and “vegetate” in a pool of despair. Keeping busy at some helpful service, a hobby, or other type of activity will help grief-stricken persons to keep their mind off unpleasant circumstances.
When Feeling Worthless and Guilty
What about the feelings of incompetence, worthlessness and guilt that frequently accompany depression? Could it be that worldly standards of “success” have led you to believe that somehow you do not measure up to others? It will be worth while to consider the Scriptural view of this matter. The Bible assures that what the world considers popular, flashy and appealing “does not originate with the Father [God], but originates with the world.” (1 John 2:15, 16) The Scriptures also make it plain that everyone has positive qualities that can serve for the benefit of others. Concerning the correct attitude for Christians, the apostle Paul writes:
“For the body, indeed, is not one member, but many. If the foot should say: ‘Because I am not a hand, I am no part of the body,’ it is not for this reason no part of the body. And if the ear should say: ‘Because I am not an eye, I am no part of the body,’ it is not for this reason no part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If it were all hearing, where would the smelling be? But now God has set the members in the body, each one of them, just as he pleased. The eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I have no need of you’; or, again, the head cannot say to the feet: ‘I have no need of you.’ But much rather is it the case that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.”—1 Cor. 12:14-18, 21, 22.
Regarding a tendency to do things wrong, the Scriptures place all humans on the same level. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) The Scriptural term “sin” means “to miss the mark” in the sense of failing to reflect perfectly the qualities of God’s personality. This tendency spread to all mankind from the first human pair, Adam and Eve. (Rom. 5:12) If one misses when shooting at a target, it matters little whether the error is due to shooting above, below or on either side of it. It is reckoned that one simply missed the mark. So likewise your own inherited weaknesses do not in God’s eyes put you on a lower level than fellow humans.
As to the comfort gained from talking to a trusted friend, King David, who underwent numerous hardships, said concerning the Creator: “Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.” (Ps. 34: 18) Approaching God in prayer during times of distress is especially helpful. Do you do that regularly?—1 Thess. 5:17.
What can relatives and friends do to assist depressed individuals? Persons who wish to help should avoid blurting out things such as: “Oh, why don’t you snap out of it!” Much more helpful is heeding the Scriptural advice: “Speak consolingly to the depressed souls.” (1 Thess. 5:14) A way to do that is to notice things that they do well and give commendation. When persons have totally lost confidence in themselves, some have helped by giving them simple tasks that they obviously can perform. Then they provide more difficult things to do, gradually rebuilding the depressed person’s self-confidence. Might you be able to help someone in this way?
But what if suggestions such as these do not bring much improvement? What other types of treatment are there?
Treatments Some Have Tried
Treating the mentally depressed has run the gamut from kindness to horrors. Today when doctors fail to aid a person to a better frame of mind through psychotherapy, they may resort to “shock therapies.” This procedure dates back to the early 1930’s. Manfred Sakel pioneered insulin-induced shock in psychotherapy back in 1933. Two years later a Budapest psychiatrist, Van Meduna, used Metrazol to produce epileptic-like convulsions. In many cases these shock treatments relieved symptoms of severe depression for a period of time. However, to be most effective insulin shock had to last 30 to 50 hours and the patient required costly attention. Metrazol shock resulted in a high incidence of fatalities and fractures.
These treatments have been largely replaced by “electroshock therapy” (EST), also called “electroconvulsive therapy” (ECT). This procedure, which is still popular, involves applying electric currents to the brain, which causes the body to convulse. Usually a drug is given in advance so that the patient does not feel anything. However, a confused state of mind follows electroshock therapy; and, on occasion, it has brought about amnesia that lasted for weeks, as well as permanent brain damage. Moreover, as noted in the book The History of Psychiatry: “Shock treatments effect only a relief of symptoms. They do not reach the basic psychological disturbance underlying the illness.”
Another way of treating depression is psychosurgery. This involves cutting certain nerve fibers that connect the frontal lobes of the brain with the thalamus. If successful, this operation may bring about relaxing of tension and anxiety. However, it has caused some patients to lose contact with their past and to become passive and lead an almost vegetative existence. And once performed, psychosurgery cannot be reversed.
Because of the frequent failure of earlier methods of treatment, some doctors have begun viewing depression from an entirely different direction. What does this involve?
Coping with Defective Body Chemistry
In an effort to treat depression from the standpoint of body chemistry, scientists have developed certain “antidepressant drugs.” These are not sedatives that induce dependence. With very rare exceptions persons can discontinue or restart antidepressant medications without adverse effects.
How do these special drugs fight depression? Scientists have noted that chemical substances called “biogenic amines” are highly concentrated in the part of the brain that controls moods. “In depressed individuals,” explains Dr. Nathan Kline, “there is fairly good evidence that certain ‘biogenic amines’ are either not produced in sufficient quantity or are destroyed much too rapidly.” A group of drugs called “monamine oxidase inhibitors” (MAOI’s, for short) has been developed to retard the breakdown of amines that appear to be needed to maintain a pleasant mood. One medication, lithium carbonate, has been quite effective in leveling off the alternate highs and lows of manic depressives.
Concerning the merits of antidepressant drugs, Dr. Kline writes: “Certainly, when extensive psychotherapy has proved to be ineffective in relieving symptoms, there are strong reasons for trying antidepressant medication. One school of thought, increasing all the time, is that medication ought to be tried first. In many cases this proves to be all that is needed. Medication not infrequently is helpful in combination with psychotherapy. After all, a depressed person is not the world’s best subject for intensive psychotherapy.”
However, there are many people, perhaps 40 percent of depressives, that do not respond to these drugs. Too, the medications have unpleasant side effects and can be dangerous if not used under the careful oversight of a doctor.
With regard to proper functioning of the brain, a reasonable safety measure would be to make sure that your body receives proper nutrition. After citing evidence that mental depression results when there are deficiencies in vitamins and other nutritional elements, biochemist Roger J. Williams observed in his book Nutrition Against Disease: “The safest assumption we can make is that every essential nutrient is needed by brain cells and that the inadequate supply of any one will cause trouble.” Of course, this is not to suggest that a person simply stuff himself with a random assortment of vitamin capsules. Requirements for optimum nutrition often vary from person to person. It would be wise to seek out expert advice as to any deficiencies of this type that you should correct. However, this is an approach to depression that is often overlooked but sometimes successful.
The Permanent Cure for Depression
If you suffer from depression, perhaps one of the suggestions mentioned above, or a combination of several of them, will afford a measure of relief. However, a permanent cure for all depressive illnesses is now at hand. What is this?
As noted earlier, the basic reason why the human body is defective and subject to various diseases, including depression, is that all humans inherit sin. According to the Scriptures, the removal of inherited sin through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ will eventually lead to disappearance of all diseases that afflict mankind.—Isa. 33:24; Col. 1:14; Rev. 21: 1-5.
The Scriptures assure, too, that all unpleasant aspects of human society will disappear when God’s heavenly Kingdom government replaces human political governments with divine rule of the earth. (Dan. 2:34, 44) Bible prophecy schedules this cleansing of the earth for the present generation.—Matt. 24:3-8, 14, 32-34.
Even now, before complete fulfillment of these sure promises, the Bible can help to uproot deep-seated depression. How so? Because persons who live according to Bible principles can offer one of the most important elements in treating any mental disturbance.
According to the Scriptures, persons practicing true Christianity heed the advice: “Clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. . . . But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” (Col. 3:12-14) Depressives will surely profit from association with persons who live according to such principles. A chairman of the Mental Health Research Fund in London said: “By far the most significant discovery of mental science is the power of love to protect and restore the mind.”
Time and again Jehovah’s Witnesses have noted the effectiveness of Bible knowledge and application of its principles in lifting people out of depression. For example, a woman from the western United States writes: “I was in a very low mental state, depressed, and had entertained thoughts of suicide. I turned to Jehovah’s Witnesses and began studying the Bible seriously. It was like God answering my prayer. My depressions and loneliness disappeared and a new hope grew in me, namely, to serve Jehovah. Today I am happy as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, knowing that there is a real reason to live and that my children can have a hope for a better life. I thank Jehovah for his loving-kindness.”
Would you like to know more about how God will soon replace this depressing system of things with a new one of peace and happiness? This information, along with sound principles for happy everyday living, is found in the Bible. Would you enjoy getting better acquainted with the Word of God? Jehovah’s Witnesses will be glad to help you to do so.
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Might talking to a trusted friend help you to cope with depression?