One of the unfortunate things about our language is that a single word may have a wide variety of meanings; for example, what we encapsulate in the word “love” is spread out over four different ones in Greek! “Depression” is another word with a wide span of meanings.

It seems you use “depression” in the common sense of “the blues”, down feelings, the feelings from disappointments and other transient things. These kinds of feelings and thoughts often pass by themselves over a

“Depression” as meant here might be better described as “major depression”, “clinical depression”, “medical-grade depression” and the like. It is a medical condition, brought on by many different kinds of causes, and plunges a person into a deep emotional abyss that they cannot control. This kind of depression involves a malfunction of the brain just as real as my diabetes is caused by a malfunction of my pancreas, people’s thyroid conditions are caused by a malfunction of the thyroid, dwarfism and giantism are caused by a malfunction of the pituitary gland, and so on. Things that help someone in a transitory or situational depression more than often do not help someone with medical-grade depression, esp. to the level where they can get out of it. Same with the other mental illnesses; it’s a whole different ball of wax.

I believe that the spirit (and God’s Spirit) are involved in healing from these conditions, at the same time recognizing that relatively few receive the same kind of instantaneous healing that Peter’s mother-in-law received. I don’t understand it all; much of it falls into the category of “mystery”; things we either don’t have the full information on or simply can’t process with our limited human minds. I am on a spiritual quest to learn about the way our spirit-man is involved in mental health and how to find healing.

In the meantime, friend, I encourage you to listen and seek to understand and not to judge. Most people who have never had this kind of condition have no clue what those of us who do deal with on a daily basis. In some ways it’s like Christian conversion; one can’t really understand what it means to be born again until you have been.

God bless you, friend. Open your mind to keep learning.

Habits are hard to break…if your habit is a cycle of morbid gloom then it will take over. There is a whole awesome world out there…you have been given, by God… the gift of life to live…not exist in self absorbed pity.

Most depression starts with thoughts of failure, sorrows or regrets from the past. Move on today, live for tomorrow. Happiness starts when we laugh at ourselves…and don’t take ourselves too seriously.

And yes, I’ve lived with tragedy, heartache, obstacles of life, depression, self doubt and failure….and I’ve lived with humour…hope,vigour, enthusiasm, enlightenment and success. It all starts with YOU deciding you are going to live a principled, fulfilled, hay life…never mind anyone else.Be true to yourself…then God’s way will be revealed.

However, “we idealize depression, associating it with perceptiveness, interpersonal sensitivity and other virtues”…“we may find that heroic melancholy is no more”. I’ve not encountered this way of thinking. My cultural circle does not extol the virtues of depression; if anything it is intolerant of its hindrances to the everyday life of the individual, and how that will impact the collective.

I’ve hidden my tendencies well. I’ve tried medication on two occasions, and both times I chose the hovering dark cloud over the alternative, a mental haze with zero visibility.

A few years ago I discovered Christian counselling; through prayer, God’s Word, and an openness to hear the Lord and to trust Him I’ve discovered it’s okay to be melancholic in nature, it’s okay to walk in faith at a snail’s pace, and it’s okay to be different from others - even Christians - because the Lord accepts me just as I am, wherever I’m at, whatever I’m wearing, however I look; and best of all, He’s always with me!

Does it mean I am free from depression and anxiety attacks? Sadly, the answer is an all too real NO. I can spend hours working through it; sometimes I am victorious, and sometimes I am not. I believe life is for living so in my moments of defeat, self-hate, and utter despair I prayerfully (and tearfully) go through how I will do things differently. God is good and ultimately the victory is His.