We need to understand what depression is and what it is NOT. While we recommend that you acquaint yourself with the valid medical definition of depression, we do not intend to present them here. Our focus and purpose is not medical. There are very real, medically discernable chemical factors involved in depression and we as an inner healing ministry respect and observe medical counsel, advice and prescription. We are not doctors nor do we attempt to try to practice ANY kind of medicine without a license.... it is NOT a lack of faith to take medicine. If the Lord has the power to heal, then He has equal power to work through a medication until it is no longer needed. You will know when you are healed and no longer needs meds. We also strongly urge and advise you to see your doctor for follow-up.
Depression is both physical and emotional and is very real. Whether depression originated from something chemical, was induced by organic shock to the system, or originated in some purely emotional cause- it is tremendously intense with emotional realities. Our goal is to present a Christian definition of depression and equip you without impinging on any professional medical field, to learn how to deal with it and receive healing.
The 2020 pandemic took a devasting toll on the physical and mental health of millions of people. But the mental-health effects could prove even more enduring. A new study published in the Lancet (a medical journal) attempts to quantify the impact of Covid-19 on mental health and wellbeing around the world. The authors estimate that cases of depression ROSE by 53 million globally as a consequence of the pandemic, 28% above pre-pandemic levels; cases of anxiety increased by 76 million, a 26% rise.
In short, depression is a condition in which our personal spirit has died to its capacity to sustain the person fully, either emotionally or physically. Were the death of a spirit's capacity to function completely, death would be the result. In depression, a person's spirit still sustains the body, though far less successfully than normally; it hasn't the capacity to sustain you emotionally.
No matter how stridently duty calls, the depressive has little or no energy to perform. They cannot feel joy. Conversations that once were refreshment become tiresome. "Ought's" and "should" impel you to make responses you can no longer feel or possess the inner drive to accomplish... JOB 6:11-13 says What strength do I have, that I should still hope?... do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?
When not in depression, you may have been able to reach into inner reservoirs and call up reserve energy to make yourself feel and act. Now the reservoir is empty. You are emotionally bankrupt. There are no more emotional funds in your account. There is only perplexity, guilt, despair, bleakness and blackness.
PART 2 NEXT WEEK.
