Depression and anxiety cloak the heart with a blackness so deep it washes out anything good and leaves a person feeling nothing. Reminds me of the evil force in The Never-Ending Story. Like a monster with no body, it sweeps you up in a helpless cloud you see coming, but can't avoid. It leaves you unable to think past your current mood.
To see someone you love suffer so is at times unbearable, that the very thought of their despair and pain brings you to your knees and keeps you up at night. You worry about them being alone, being with others, and whether they are ever really enjoying themselves. You wonder if you have to be worried about when they are quiet - if it's a bad thing - or if it's actually their way of unwinding and processing their day so they can achieve calm.
It's torture to not be able to truly "fix" what's wrong. But then, don't we all have something a little "off" in ourselves? All it takes is that ONE THING to trigger an emotion, and it can send us to that deep dark place we never thought was even there, waiting to consume us, if we let it.
The question becomes, do we medicate, educate, advocate, or something else to turn depression and anxiety around? Is there a real way? Or will we always have to see people struggle and end their battles, dropping off like soldiers on an intense battlefield to our left and right? These are the questions that plague me every time I hear about another statistic. Famous personalities who couldn't cope anymore and checked out. Average citizens who carried out some vendetta against someone whom they felt wronged them and then they take their own lives. Psychological problems can run so deep they are passed down through genes or by way of constant influence, lifestyle, and habit. And with the free-manner of entertainment and the anything-goes mentality of our society, it's scary how easy it can be to become unhinged and deranged at any point in life.
Some of the most brilliant minds in history have been depressive. Through their struggles, they've painted - literally and figuratively - a picture so vivid and soul-reaching that we can all identify with the fog of depression in varying degrees relative to our own existence. We're left in perverse awe over their contributions, and yet there's a note of sadness and regret in how we view them...if only they could have found true relief, if only they didn't feel so alone, if only...
There is something to be said about the arts, really. It's often the key to creativity and penetrating the fog, if only for moments at a time. But those precious moments, how beautiful they are! They are a healing balm that can produce the same manner of effectiveness as medication, and the same euphoria found in the drugs and alcohol so many covet. Only, instead of destroying or negatively altering the mind or body, they draw a person outside of who they are or what they are going through, so that then they remain focused on what they can do for others and/or with the world.
It's not enough to say "have faith" or to "pray about it" when you know someone is depressed. While those do have healing powers, even that can only go so far - and I truly believe that is why in the Bible itself there were no two people who perfected their faith and avoided depression, nor were their remedies ever the same. Yes, they "walked with God," but if you look closely they also had talents which they used to express themselves. Some were musical, others were poetic. Some tended to animals, built structures, and had ornate gardens. Faith and talents do go hand-in-hand though - you have to believe in something to get you through life. No crutch, but more a purpose. It transcends whatever faith you are, and makes up who you are to the core. The problem is, society says you have to have one or the other, and choosing one over the other either makes you selfish or a saint. Everyone wants to know: Do you fall onto the spiritual side, or the anti-establishment side where talents and brains override faith? Why does there HAVE to be a choice?
Is it possible that when trying to win souls to heaven, we are instead trapping depressive minds into a state of confusion and guilt? I say, whatever helps you achieve balance, penetrates the depressive fog, and makes you a better, more unselfish person who looks to the needs or interests of others, then that should be celebrated and accepted in whatever form you take! It's a different journey for everyone, and just like the Bible cast of characters, there will always be highs and lows. Depressive is as depressive does, and no force this side of heaven can ever fully change that. It all comes down to how alert we all are to what others are going through, and what we are really teaching others to think and become. What are schools and employers doing to foster stable and well-rounded members of society? How can we be more effective parents, coaches and mentors? By unlocking talents!
They say do something you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life. And yet, why do we often stop dreaming and achieving past a certain childhood age itself? Therein lies the crux of our woes, when we lose focus on what can be possible. That's why so many who are of the church are just as badly beaten down as people who aren't part of any faith establishment, and yet there are many faiths out there who avoid addressing mental health issues because they are of the thought that if you have faith that's all you need, and to say otherwise makes you a heretic!
Let's face it. We ALL know someone with depression or are the one depressed. The odds are great that we will know at least one person per decade who will give up living because they can't take it anymore. It DOES take a village to raise a child when you think about the influence we each possess to lead everyone we meet either further away or closer to his or her purpose. What are we doing to encourage their strengths and support their dreams? Or are we going to constantly squash them down, hide them away, or keep them feeling inferior the rest of their lives, so that the gnawing blackness can eventually win? It's not enough to say we support mental health wholeness - we have to be in the thick of it. Learning, teaching, modeling, loving - it takes acts of love, not words of a dictator to change lives.
In the words of Jesus: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
John 14:27.
Have peace so you can share it, and you'll do the world some good.
