I’m here to ask, how do we as Christians treat others who may suffer with depression, and especially if the one who suffers with depression is a Christian? Oh yes, I’ve heard a lot of things come out of so called well meaning “Christians” and here are just a few of the things they have said:
“I’ll be praying for you honey” (said with a tone in their voice as if you just announce you have the plague, and ready to move on away from you).
The ever over used southern constant: “well bless your heart”
The holier than thou: “if you had enough faith in God you wouldn’t be depressed”,
The health fanatic who can cure anything: “if you ate the right foods, you wouldn’t be depressed”, or “if you exercised more, the depression would go away”…
The Bible scholar: “Poor thing just doesn’t understand the word of God and how to apply it to his / her life”.
And those who have NO earthly idea what they are talking about:
“Well just snap out of it”,
“Pick yourself up and brush yourself off”,
“There’s no need to keep crying over a cup of spilled milk”,
“The past is the past darlin’, it’s time to move on” ,
and the list goes on and on and on.
Don’t take what I’m saying wrong, I totally believe God can and does heal. He not only heals physically, but emotionally, physiologically and spiritually. But that is not always what happens. Sometimes healing/relief comes in the form of medication to help ‘control’ your depression.
Do we (as Christians) ever stop to listen to what they (those who suffer with depression) are truly saying to you, or do you put a “mark” on them once you’ve heard the word depression come out of their mouth? I’m here to tell you, people who suffer from depression need our love, support and understanding just as much as someone who suffers from a more “acceptable” disease such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer or any other debilitating disease.
Let me give you a little insight to the issue:
One of the most difficult things to do when you are depressed is to actually
reach out and ask for help or to actually share the fact that they suffer from depression.
Often times people that suffer from depression, are great performers in front of others in public. They do this often as a means of survival, because of the labels that people put on them when they find out they suffer from depression.
People who suffer from depression often feel a sense of inadequacy or shame.
There is a left over feeling in our society today of days gone by that you are considered to be ‘crazy’. So when someone with depression finally is able to bring themselves to a point to reach out and say to you “I suffer from depression”, try to understand how much courage it took them to actually admit that out loud to you. Think before you speak…
To be continued:
I am very familiar with these sayings!
ReplyDeleteHow about those that believe it is Gods will... insofar that, you are being punished for the past.
ReplyDeleteOr.. there is no such thing as depression, you have a demon...
@ Greg, you are so right... I do know one thing for sure, these people will be held for what comes out of their mouths and their actions... these are the type of people that have NO idea of what they speak... and cause more damage than good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing up these issues!
One of my BIGGEST pet peeves (ahem, among my many, ahem) is when people say stuff like "if you ate better or exercised you would not feel like that, blah blah blah"...I HATE THAT. I don't care if they're talking about cancer, diabetes, depression, whatever...it's ridiculous. Look forward to your continuation.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bert, for sharing! I couldn't agree more and the more we talk about depression maybe the more we can educate people who think that you can just snap out of it. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Kelly
Good job, Bert...so true.
ReplyDelete