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Lifting the Cloud
of
by
Donald D. Schroeder
Are you needlessly experiencing hopelessness and despair?
lt
is
time you understood the reasons for this all-too-common human affi.iction!
I
T IS
a tragic but real fact
of life.
Mental depression has run
like a he avy d a rk thread
t hrougbout the fabric of human
history. Men and women, the
great and small, have suffered
periods of "the gray menace"–
dark emotions that shrouded
their lives in fee lings of utter
despair, hopelessness and help–
Jessness. Health officials say it is
increasing, due to r apidly
changing social conditions and
val
ues.
Mental depression is one of
humanity's most common illnesses,
taking a tremendous toll on mar–
riages, productivity, human growth
and happiness. It knows no class bar–
riers. It affiicts rich and poor alike.
And though it rises abruptly in inci–
dence with adolescent years, it is also
becoming a growing problem in
youngcr children, Jeadi ng to increas–
ingly more youthful suicides.
Found Way to Escape
Winston Churchill, one of the
greatest statesmen of the World
War
II
era, was beset by wbat be
called his "black dog" of depres–
sion. Abraham Lincoln suffered
frequent depressive moods in his
Ji fe.
Biblical heroes- men of great
courage-at times showed their
human frailty and weakness by suf–
fering from this problem. King
November/ December 1984
David of Israel, Elijah, Jeremiah and eventual suicide. There is much
and others, al l powerful prophets or ground in between these two
leaders, experienced deep depres- extremes. Mental depression may
sions, sorne to the point of wanting be mild, moderate or severe. Or it
to die.
may be masked-a person doesn't
These men, however, found a even realize he is suffering from it,
way of escape from depression. though he manifests symptoms to
They, and others since, were able to otbers.
tap the r ight power and resources
Every one of us has bis blue days.
to conquer fear, worry, and deal Jt's our common response to Josses
with seemingly hopeless situations. ,. or setbacks, or to sometbing we feel
Out of weakness they were made we failed to achieve in life. " Hope
strong (Heb. 11 :34). Out of their deferred makes the heart sick," says
suffering tbey became more stable, Scripture (Prov.
13: 12,
RA
Y) .
more compassionate, more mature
The vast majority of depressed
persons.
persons
(90
percent, estímate sorne
Wearing Many Faces
Mental depression wears many
faces. Though it commonly has psy–
chological (mental-emotional) roots
it can also be caused by numerous
health problems or physical changes
in the human body that you need to
be aware of.
Depression is a broad range of
negative states of mind. At one end
of the scale, depression shows up as
the common, short-term down or
blue feeling after hearing bad news.
Or perhaps learning of the loss of
something or someone. Sometimes
it results from a blow to the ego.
This blue feeling may last for only a
few hours or days at most.
At the other extreme are cbronic
or lifelong crippling emotions of
futility, hopelessness, emptiness,
lack of joy and energy. These can be
coupled with total loss of sel f–
esteem, unremitting guilt, shame
authorities) find the resources to
snap out of it, although it may take
days, weeks or even months to fully
recover. These persons resolve their
losses, setbacks or failures and go
on.
For around
1O
percent of
affiicted persons, however, depres–
sion becomes chronic or frequcnt,
way out of proportion to a loss. For
these persons, deprcssion is unre–
solved and Jeads to week after week
of feelings of helplessness and
guilt-that life isn't worth living.
This condition is serious and needs
skilled belp.
Yet, most cases of depression
(sorne authorities say
75
percent) go
undiagnosed and victims receive no
special help. Depressed persons
often are too ashamed to admit to
anyone that they can't cope with a
certain problem or set of problems
in Iife. Tbeir depression, though
painful, is covered up.
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