Thoughts on Depression Part I

Sometimes you have to learn stuff the hard way.   The positive thing about learning the hard way is that, despite the pain of it, the lesson usually sticks.    Seven years ago, I learned a lot about the title of this post the hard way.   When I was pregnant with my first child, I had heard of postpartum depression but I had only a passing interest, if that.   I'm a naturally cheerful person so what was about to happen to me was so unexpected that I was in complete denial until my daughter was two years old.   

The nutshell version is that before I left the hospital with my baby, I was fighting against a state of despair and extreme exhaustion but unable to sleep.   Some part of me knew this wasn't normal but for some reason I just couldn't recognize it.   Looking back, I struggle to understand how I couldn't see what is now so obvious.   This was a whole new world and I made sure I hid this from everyone.  I just kept smiling and saying everything was fine - even to my husband.  

Dr. Greg Knopf is an expert on depression and he's done much to shed light on this issue in the Christian community.   He writes that people often struggle to recognize depression because depressive symptoms, "... often suggest to those who experience them that they may have some kind of low grade virus or some other illness that is dragging them down. That’s why many eventually end up at the office of their primary care physician, looking for a diagnosis that would provide a solution."    

One of the most profound lessons I took away from my experience is learning the difference between sad, depressed feelings due to an external circumstance and a physiological depletion of essential neurotransmitters (e.g. serotonin).    The word depletion seems to characterize it well.   I think of a sad mood as a mental state in which there's an addition of sad feelings.   Clinical depression is an absence of essential neurotransmitters that create a sense of well-being and normal energy levels; its a negative state. 

The origin of depression is complex and many factors, such as genetics, can play a role.   It can also be brought on by our own choices, especially when drug abuse is involved because of its effect on brain chemistry.   There is no shortage of  opinions on depression and certainly so within the church.   Our natural instinct is to base our beliefs about depression   on our own personal experiences.  In other words, we tend to think subjectively about it instead of objectively.    Thinking objectively about an emotional topic is difficult, but this becomes less challenging as we learn more about it.  

It is not easy to write about this topic in such a personal way and I've postponed it for a long time.  Even so,  I can honestly say that I've gained more than lost from the experience. 




Dr. Greg Knopf, http://depressionoutreach.com/