Creating Optimism

ENEMY WITHIN THE GATES

Can Belief in God Cure Depression?

Robyn McClure

If you, like me, have ever suffered from depression, or are possibly battling with its symptoms at the moment, you might identify it as an insidious invader of our emotional well-being.

To many people who step out into the world on a daily basis, reacting to life’s ups and downs with hope and optimism, it can perhaps be difficult to imagine, or even understand the prison of darkness that can suck any of us at any time into  its negative spiral. The frustration of not being understood is coupled with the frustration that, while many people have developed different theories about its causes and treatment, it seems that no real agreement can be reached. The known and often publicized side effects of psychiatric medicines cause alarm rather than ready acceptance and it is often difficult to know where to go for treatment. Sadly, too, treatment does not always provide relief.

If you have ever suffered from this kind of  emotional bleakness that makes life seem not worth living, where nothing can trigger feelings of pleasure, with a future stretching out into an imagined  eternity that seems to provide no hope, then perhaps you can understand why it is that I call it the  “the enemy within the gates”. It is as if we have become a prisoner of our own distorted and negative thoughts and vision.

As researchers continue to grapple with the complexities of this disorder, some have begun to look, not so much at what causes depression, but at what causes some individuals, who might also experience devastating life events, to be more resilient than others in terms of managing their responses to those events.  In this quest they have found evidence that spirituality might provide an answer[1] [2]. Questions abound as to why this is, and more importantly as to what kind of spirituality provides an answer. There are many who have grown up in strongly religious homes or who sit in religious institutions, who have not been able to evade its effects. So, while research has established a link between spirituality and resilience, it must also look towards establishing the kind of spirituality that promotes healing rather than furthering despair.

It is my personal conjecture that it is not so much about what we believe, but how we believe that is essential to the process. A spirituality that provides for an emotional connectedness with a “something other” that is outside of the self and yet is felt rather than understood academically can be a strong antidote to pervasive depression. On the other hand, thinking about God can easily plummet us into further depression, if we perceive ourselves to be unworthy of divine love and therefore abandoned by the very deity we seek. The perception of an externalised God of wrath and process of “drawing closer” as we strive to achieve a “godliness” that is impossible. A belief that the devastating conditions in which we might find ourselves are the consequence of God’s ‘righteous’ punishment, can reduce us to apathy and feelings of worthlessness. This cannot be seen to be the same as a deeply internalised faith and spirituality that co-exist with feelings of love, nurture and compassion.  In this kind of spirituality, our human fallibility and frailty is accepted with an understanding that few of us experience in our daily contact with fellow human beings.  When this essence of divine awareness enters into the inner self, reinforced through prayer and meditation[3], it can provide a gateway for a sense of upliftment, optimism and personal worth. This kind of spirituality and faith can cut perpendicularly into depressed thinking and the characteristic “pervasive pessimism”[4] that accompanies it, to provide light in the dark and the strength to endure in a way that blocks and reverses the patterns of thinking that might lead a person to become a prisoner of their own gloom.  This is a spirituality that involves a faith that provokes hope and is intrinsically about finding meaning in spite of suffering.  As such it provides for victory over the enemy that attempts to constantly invade the inner resources we need to cope when life seems to be too hard to bear. punishment can create feelings of terror[5] that might make it impossible to submit oneself to a

Robin McClure holds an honors degree in psychology and works as a counselor in Cape Town, South Africa

References

Murray, B. & Fortinberry, A. (2004). Creating Optimism. A Proven, 7-Step Programm for Overcoming Derpession. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Walsh, F & Pryce, J. (2003). The Spiritual Dimension of Family Life. In F. Walsh (Ed.), Normal Family Processes (Third ed., pp. 337 - 372). New York: The Guildford Press.

[1] Walsh, F & Pryce, J, 2003.

[2] Murray, B. & Fortinberry, A., 2004, p. 190

[3] Murray, B. & Fortinberry, A., 2004, pp. 192 - 193

[4] Murray, B. & Fortinberry, A., 2004, p. 32

[5] Murray, B. & Fortinberry, A., 2004, p. 194.