Mental Health & the Christian

[Gregory Matthews]

Depression & the Christin:  For an interesting discussion of a mental health issue and the Christian, see the following:

https://atoday.org/depression-is-biblical/al/

[Dr. Shane]

I think this is a better link Depression Is Biblical

That is a good article and a topic we need to be talking about more often.  Too often people that struggle with depression are told they lack faith.  They are given simplistic solutions to complex problems.  It is important to note and understand the Bible characters that suffered depression.  In graduate school, we were given an assignment to analyze Elijah's depression.  Depression is part of the earthly experience for many of us.  In some cases, it is something we just need to go through.  The concept of pain avoidance only adds anxiety to our depression.  However, it is very important to keep hope alive.  This too shall pass.  Depression does not last forever.  There are coping mechanisms to help us get through it.

[Dr. Shane]

Another Bible character that we studied in graduate school was Naomi.  That is an incredible story about chronic depression.  One of the sermons that I often preach is about crisis intervention and I use the story of Naomi to illustrate how the church can intervene in a crisis of one of its members.