Help for the Depressed

Americans live in a society of extreme affluence. It may never have occurred to you, but the average standard of living in America is several steps higher than that of most people in the world, and vastly higher than the majority of humans who have lived throughout history. In fact, very many Americans, who may not even consider themselves particularly rich, are surrounded by comforts, conveniences, gadgets and commodities which certain emperors of history, such as Egyptian Pharaohs and Roman Caesars, never in their life enjoyed, or even imagined.

But something is wrong. The flourishing technological creature-comforts had promised to make a better world to live in, but they didn't deliver. The rising standards of living did not bring a corresponding increase in people's levels of contentment or satisfaction with life. Rather, as material wealth, new means of pleasure, and idle ways to pass time have increased, society's members just seem to sink lower into misery and sorrow. Huge numbers of people these days wrestle with severe depression on a continual basis. Mental hospitals and psychiatric counseling centers overflow with them. One well-known television newscaster divulged his use of medication to deal with his depression, and hosts of other highly esteemed personages as well have been known to drown their sorrows with diverse types of drugs and liquors. Suicide is now among the ten most common causes of death in the U.S., and, not surprisingly, depression is its number one inducer.

This wave of depressed people has over the years produced several responses. A common attempt to combat this condition has been to turn to pharmaceutical means for help. Since we are made up of chemicals, it is reasoned, mental disorders are the result of chemical imbalances, rather than the consequence of any fault of the sufferer, so a dose of lithium or some other substance should remedy the problem. A little thought on the matter, however, reveals this to be an exercise in futility. Surely it is foolish for people to suppose they can take a pill and straighten their heads out. This can be described as looking for a source of healing where none exists.

Of course, there is at least one tangible effect of using these drugs: making the companies which manufacture them exceedingly wealthy. A number of pharmaceutical corporations are now taking in enormous amounts of profits, surpassing by far many other sorts of industries. Much of this income is from anti-depressant drugs and other medications intended to deal with mental disorders. However, these physicians are of no value and the drugs they put out only make people numb to their problems, without really solving anything.

So, wealth and pleasure have failed to produce any lasting contentment or fulfillment. Alcohol, drugs and medications have fallen far short of delivering anyone from depression. Meanwhile, psychology, human philosophies and the wisdom of the world have proven themselves totally incapable of bringing about any mental cure. What, then can actually help?

It is clear that depression is associated with improper or even unsound thinking. That being the case, obviously the healing from depression has to do with proper, sound thinking. The place to go for is towards our Creator. The Spirit of Elohiym is one of "power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (II Timothy 1:7) Likewise, the Holy Scriptures, being inspired by the Spirit of Elohiym, are a source of sound instruction. If, for example, certain people had been following the counsel of the Scriptures, they would have known beforehand that chasing greedily after riches is a major cause of sorrow and misery. (I Timothy 6:9,10). They could have thus saved themselves a lot of grief. Instead, multitudes of people have spent their lives in hot pursuit of wealth and comfort, only confirming in the end how void of contentment that lifestyle actually is. Certainly many other examples could be given from the Scriptures of what sorts of things are to be sought after, and what should be avoided to have piece. (See Isaiah 32:17)

"I think myself happy, king Agrippa," began the apostle Paul, in his defense before the Roman authorities, as recorded in Acts 26:2. When we consider Paul's circumstances when he said this, the implications become profound. Here we have a Jewish believer who had forsaken a life of position and comfort to spend his years persuading people of a message that most despised. Time after time his work was interrupted by arrests, by slanderous accusations and civil disturbances, by threats to his life, and by public beatings. In fact, at the time he made the above statement before Herod Agrippa, Paul had already spent more than two years imprisoned by the Roman government; and of course in those days Roman jails were not particularly jolly places. What, then, could account for brother Paul being so cheerful in this situation?

Paul gives an indication of the answer to this question in I Corinthians 15:19 when he says, "If in this life only we have hope in Mashiyach, we are of all men most miserable." This apostle, along with other disciples of Yeshua, had forsaken their goods and aspirations in this world. It is therefore clear that the source of their hope, consolation and joy was not something this world could possibly offer. Rather, they possessed the joy and peace in believing" (Romans 15:13; I Peter 1:18). Convinced that this Yeshua, whom many of them had seen alive after His death and burial, was the Mashiyach promised in the Holy Scriptures, the Creator of the earth come in the flesh, they laid hold on the hope of eternal life set forth in the Word of Elohiym.

Many today are quite without this faith. Hosts of people in the world have no lasting hope, nor anything in which to believe. Death is seen as merely the inexorable conclusion of a life without any purpose or meaning, which flickers for only a short time, and then vanishes forever. (See I Thessalonians 4:13.) They see survival as the name of the game, with ultimately everyone losing: "You keep holding on until you can't hold on any longer, and then you just die." Small wonder, then, that such people, when stormy situations arise, are unable to cope. Depression and despair set in, and they find themselves "having no hope, and without Elohiym in the world." (Ephesians 2:12)

There is a solution in the Scriptures. Hope is the answer to despair, and the Word of Elohiym presents us with such a sound, solid hope that the brother referred to it as "an anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19). Briefly stated, this hope is that those who come to, believe in, and obey Yeshua can fellowship with the Creator who loves is; they have an inheritance of Divine help, care, guidance and deliverance in this life, and they are heirs of the promise of eternal happiness in the world to come. Moreover, there is sound counsel in the Scriptures, a wisdom available to combat the improper thinking that brings people into depression. Foremost among these are the teachings about faith, love, kindness, forgiveness, humility, repentance from sin, turning our lives over unto Elohiym, and living for Him.

"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them," Yeshua told his disciples. (John 13:17) As the apostle Paul, we can find that place where circumstances have no effect on our joy. A good conscience towards Elohiym dispels gloom: when we can look up towards heaven, and know that our Creator loves us and is pleased with us, then sorrow has no place.

Therefore the redeemed of Yahveh shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. - Isaiah 51:10

Life in Christ