DEPRESSION - PRACTICAL ANSWERS FROM the BIBLESample

John 16:33 (NLT): I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world.”

1 Kings 19:3-5 (NLT): Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!”

Real causes behind depression!

Elijah has an erroneous perception of the spiritual condition of the people of Israel. He feels alone and unable to share his burden with anyone. What happened to him? Today, we would say that he was a victim of exhaustion. Despite his high spiritual standards, Elijah did not lead a balanced life. Living in the extreme, always on the go, he did not realize that he had reached the personal limits of what he could bear emotionally and physically.

Several factors can cause depression:

• an imbalance in the brain's biochemistry (dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, neuro substances necessary for proper brain function) due to genetic causes
• sleep deprivation, poor life balance, postpartum, …, impact on our physical being
• opposition, nurtured sin, identity problems, unforgiveness, …, and impact on our spiritual being
• environmental or societal factors (war, recession, pandemic, etc.)
• personality-related or psychology-related: certain temperaments, loneliness, rejection, failure, success, lies about oneself, unforgiveness to oneself
• relationship-related: marital, sentimental, hierarchical

Modern medicine even recognizes that lack of forgiveness has an impact on our state of health*.

Are your sleep, your back, and your stomach affected by the prison of unforgiveness?

*:(⁠"Handbook of Forgiveness" Everett L. Worthington, Routledge, 2005; "Unforgiveness, Rumination, and Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults," Ingersooll-Dayton Berit, Torges Cynthia, Krayse Meal, Aging and Mental Health 14(4), May 2010; "Forgiveness, Health and Well-Being: a review of evidence for emotional versus decisional forgiveness, dispositional forgiveness and reduced un-forgiveness.", Everett L Worthington Jr, Charlotte Van Oyen Witvliet, Pietro Pietrini, Andrea J Miller, Journal of Behavioral Medicine 30, n°4, August 2007).