I was actually a Christian, I'm not a Christian any more, I sort of went through a crisis of faith a few years afterwards which, again is quite, is quite relevant, I think quite relevant to depression. In what sense? Well, Christianity has got some quite powerful symbols in it about redemption and death and somebody dying for your sins.
And quite a strong feeling of sin, actually, of a feeling of blame or some, whether you can use the word 'stigma' in that context that attaches to somebody who's, who's somehow failed.
But it also, you know, it's got a positive aspect to it as well, it's got the idea that one should be able to be guided by God's will if one reflects on it and reads on it and such like. And some people are supposed to be called by God, but I never felt that way you know, and I never really had this so-called personal relationship with Jesus that many, you know fervent Christians talk about.
I mean I had a conflict in my mind between science, which I felt I understood pretty well, and the Bible, and I was always trying to reconcile them. This is something I was doing, you know even as a kid, you know from the age of 11'. And from the age of 11 and, ultimately, it went down to the side of being a heathen, and not really worrying about being damned, because I don't even believe in things like sin any more.
I find them to be very'. Feels that God has sustained her through depression and not let her suffer too much, despite I think there are a lot of things we actually don't understand, and up to a point, but probably in depression, the depths of depression, you can't really do anything about.
But prayer does help, and believing that the holy spirit will sustain It is often rubbished, but there again, that's what I believe. I have been sustained.
It doesn't mean I've never thought of suicide in the real pits I feel a wreck, I am so unhappy, I am so miserable What else can there be I didn't have faith then, I didn't even attempt to I didn't attempt suicide, it doesn't mean to say I didn't think about it. Explains that prayer and God helped him in ways that are unclear, yet he feels it at least helped How has prayer helped, well I guess that as I say, the Lord had a purpose behind me having depression, and I was content.
It didn't make sense to me because, well it just didn't make sense to me, but I had to believe that was it. I used a psalm, Psalm , when I was going through the worst of it. Well you'd have to look it up in the Bible, but part of it says the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations. And I had to believe you know, there was always'.
But I had to believe that, and that may'. I think that it helped. I don't know, I can't say if I'd have been any different without those beliefs. Certainly it kept me and the wife's marriage together, I believe that. So I give thanks for that. Along with getting the right balance of medication, says she found talking to God gave her strength. Although saying like you know never give up that is one thing I've really, really learned.
You can nay, there's never, never, for nobody a magic pill. People said that to me for years and years. Ah there is no magic pill you need to just do this and you need to just do that. But I can see that now, there is no magic pill, but I thought I'm no weak.
I am strong enough to [laugh]. And I don't go to church, but you see in the last few months I've never spoken with God so much in my life. I said I think this man is giving me the strength to carry on for what I am coming through. I said to him am I going to get peace in life? Says that praying is like talking to someone who already knows you well, and that no formal I think because' it depends on how you look on praying.
This sort of guilt is best ignored! If you are having powerful guilty thoughts about things you have already confessed to God, or over issues that others think are totally insignificant, you can be pretty sure you are dealing with false guilt. This is very far from the truth: Depression is a real illness with hidden symptoms, it is no less real than a serious physical illness.
In fact the renowned preacher Charles Spurgeon and Sister of Mercy, Mother Teresa both struggled with decades of depression and neither could be criticised for a lack of faith or motivation. Emotions become blunted or absent, energy is sapped, previously easy tasks become hard, everything feels slowed down, apart from your thoughts which seems much faster. In heaven, we believe there will be no illness, therefore to some extent all sickness is a sign negative spiritual agency.
At the same time, having the flu does not immediately mean you are being opposed by a spiritual force. At the same time, in a broader sense does depression impact you spiritually? If only he had prayed in faith believing or loved God with all his heart, soul and mind , if only he had really been saved—then he would have experienced the peace that passes all understanding.
But the reality is far more complex. It is true that symptoms like depression or panic attacks most often strike those of us who are vulnerable, perhaps because of genetics or perhaps because situational stressors have worn us down.
But certain aspects of Christian beliefs and Christian living also can create those stressors, even setting up multigenerational patterns of abuse, trauma, and self-abuse. Also, over time some religious beliefs can create habitual thought patterns that actually alter brain function, making it difficult for people to heal or grow. The purveyors of religion insist that their product is so powerful it can transform a life, but somehow, magically, it has no risks. In reality, when a medicine is powerful, it usually has the potential to be toxic, especially in the wrong combination or at the wrong dose.
And religion is powerful medicine! In this discussion, we focus on the variants of Christianity that are based on a literal interpretation of the Bible. These include Evangelical and fundamentalist churches, the Church of Latter Day Saints, and other conservative sects. These groups share the characteristics of requiring conformity for membership, a view that humans need salvation, and a focus on the spiritual world as superior to the natural world.
These views are in contrast to liberal, progressive Christian churches with a humanistic viewpoint, a focus on the present, and social justice. To understand the power of religion, it is helpful to understand a bit about the structure of the human mind. Much of our mental activity has little to do with rationality and is utterly inaccessible to the conscious mind. The preferences, intentions and decisions that shape our lives are in turn shaped by memories and associations that can get laid down before we even develop the capacity for rational analysis.
Aspects of cognition like these determine how we go through life, what causes us distress, which goals we pursue and which we abandon, how we respond to failure, how we respond when other people hurt us—and how we respond when we hurt them.
Religion derives its power in large part because it shapes these unconscious processes: the frames, metaphors, intuitions and emotions that operate before we even have a chance at conscious thought. When it comes to psychological damage, certain religious beliefs and practices are reliably more toxic than others. Janet Heimlich is an investigative journalist who has explored religious child maltreatment , which describes abuse and neglect in the service of religious belief. In her book, Breaking their Will, Heimlich identifies three characteristics of religious groups that are particularly prone to harming children.
Clinical work with reclaimers , that is, people who are reclaiming their lives and in recovery from toxic religion, suggests that these same qualities put adults at risk, along with a particular set of manipulations found in fundamentalist Christian churches and biblical literalism. In major theistic religions, this hierarchy has a god or gods at the top, represented by powerful church leaders who have power over male believers, who in turn have power over females and children.
Parents may go so far as beating or starving their children on the authority of godly leaders. A book titled, To Train Up a Child , by minister Michael Pearl and his wife Debi, has been found in the homes of three Christian adoptive families who have punished their children to death. New converts often are encouraged to pull away from extended family members and old friends, except when there may be opportunities to convert them.
In Evangelical Hell Houses , Halloween is used as an occasion to terrify children and teens about the tortures that await the damned. In the Left Behind book series and movie, the world degenerates into a bloodbath without the stabilizing presence of believers.
Since the religious group is the only alternative to these horrors, anything that threatens the group itself—like criticism, taxation, scientific findings, or civil rights regulations—also becomes a target of fear. In this view, the salvation and righteousness of believers is constantly under threat from outsiders and dark spiritual forces.
Consequently, Christians need to separate themselves emotionally, spiritually, and socially from the world. Small wonder then, that many Christians emerge wounded. It is important to remember that this mindset permeates to a deep subconscious level. This is a realm of imagery, symbols, metaphor, emotion, instinct, and primary needs. Nature and nurture merge into a template for viewing the world which then filters every experience. The template selectively allows only the information that confirms their model of reality, creating a subjective sense of its veracity.
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