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Unresolved resentment, bitter–
ness, jealousy, envy or anger lead
to fee l ings of loss, hence to
depressed feelings. "Envy is as
rottenness to the bones," correct–
ly states scr ipture (Proverbs
14:30). For such sins one needs to
ask for forgiveness from God, and
others you have offended. T hen
set your values right and resolve
not to do them again.
T hough many do not believe in
evil spiritual forces-Satan and a
host of fallen angels (demons)–
they do exist a nd they do
influence the minds and attitudes
of unwary humanity. No wonder
so many psychiatrists and their
patients don't understand sorne of
their negative moods or altitudes!
(See Ephesians 2:2-3.)
Scripture warns, "For we wres–
t le not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness (wicked spir–
its, margin] in high places"
(Ephesians 6:12).
These evil spirits place damag–
ing and negative moods and feel–
ings in vulnerable or unwary
human minds. In sorne weakened
persons, they implant impulses to
want to give up on life and end it.
Physical Causes
Overwork , pro longed me n tal
stress, anxiety or fear may drain
our mental and pbysical eoergy
levels. Gone is the n eeded
strength to cope with life and its
problems.
Physical or mental exhaustion
may take weeks or years to devel–
op. But it eventually can translate
into mental energy rundown-a
feeling of being unable to cope.
Jmproper nutrition can grad–
ually set one up for depression.
Too many refined sugars,
starches or fats in the diet, or
other unbalanced nutrition, can
weaken the body's physical
endurance, mental alertness and
ability to handle problems or
stress. Allergic reactions to cer–
tain foods or substances can also
produce mental dullness, ir ritabil–
ity or depressed feelings.
Proper sleep, diet and exercise
is necessary to help avoid falling
February 1981
into depressed states of mind .
Proper rest, food and creative
activity are needed to help a
depressed person come out of his
or her condition.
Creative activity or achieve–
ment of any kind, even if it must
start out small, should be encour–
aged· for depressed persons.
lt
is
necessary to build up, a step at a
time, a depressive's sense of
worth and accomplishment again.
Accomplishments should be
pointed ou t positively to the
depressive, because their de–
pressed attitude tends to clown–
grade even things they can
accomplish.
Here is another important, but
comfor ting, piece of knowledge:
many deeply depressed persons
feel they have totally lost all their
former skills and abilities, hence
are total failures. T his is a mislead–
ing feeling caused by the depres–
sion. Unfortunately, it viciously
adds fue! to feelings of hopeless–
ness and futility. But the skills and
abilities are really still there! They
will return as the person recovers
from depression , as he or she
reorders his or her life with posi–
tive values and attitudes.
Although many don't realize it ,
boredom is another endogenous
st ress. The human mind and body
were created to need a modest
amount of healthy variety and
stimulation to feel alive and main–
tain equilibrium.
Boredom is the absence or dull–
ness of stimulation and feeling.
Boredom produces apathy, lethar–
gy, loss of sense of worth and of
positive feelings about oneself.
Continua! boredom will set one
up for a depression. Many of the
symptoms of boredom and de–
pression are similar, only the
intensity may differ.
T his tragedy of boredom is vir–
tually engineered in many areas
of modero Iife-such as bornes
for the elderly, prisons for the
criminal and bleak residential
quarters.
Drugs and alcohol are often
used to tranquilize the resulting
pain or to fill the emptiness. Yet
the pain and suffering will not be
tru ly alleviated without an excit–
ing, worthwhile goal or purpose
in life. What is needed is a life
filled with faith and hope for
growth in the future.
Drug/ Hea lth Factors
Depressive feelings can be in–
duced by certain drugs, abuses of
alcohol, improper ly working bodi–
ly functions or viral infect ions.
T his is called
toxic depression.
Wrong use of certain drugs
needs special emphasis. Many
depressives take barbiturates ,
sedatives, tranquilizers or alco–
hol-drugs that depress the cen–
tral nervous system-to alleviate
their suffering. Sorne doctors care–
lessly prescribe such d rugs for
vague physical or emotional com–
plaints not real izing that the
problem is not physical-the per–
son is depressed. Biochemical
responses are already depressing
the depressive's central nervous
system. These drugs may alleviate
certain pain or suffering tempo–
rarily, but in the long term they
depress the brain and nervous
system even more. T his causes
even less ability to solve underly–
ing problems with right re–
sponses.
lmbalances in hormone pro–
duction can also cause depressive
feelings . This may happen from
malfunctioning pituitary, adrenal ,
thyroid or other glands.
Menstrual, post partum (after
birth) or menopause hormone
changes sometimes produce nega–
tive moods.
Diseases such as diabetes,
hypoglycemia, thyroid illness,
mononucleosis, infectious hepati–
tis, a heavy touch of the flu or
other poor health conditions can
be responsible for sorne depres–
sive feelings.
Because a wide variety of such
conditions exist, anyone suffering
from prolonged depressive fee l–
ings should seek a thorough phys–
ical examination to see to what
extent any physical health prob–
lems may be involved.
Therapy Controversy
The medica! and mental health
professions today attempt to com–
bat mental depression with a wide
variety or combinations of drug,
electric, verbal ·and health thera-
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