Amazing how I never knew how widespread an ailment depression was until I met the dark beast in person. Looking back, I know it lived inside me. I wrote poems about the creature in the past, but I thought it was typical angst of a young person. I didn't know it was waiting to swallow me. I didn't know it was me and my own sin, and I guess I didn't believe the full reach of Christ's grace.

I've found out all sorts of fascinating things about this emotional disease. The amount of Americans with depression doubled between 1970 and 1990, and almost again since. All sorts of theories and studies abound as to its root causes. One major reason is unresolved emotional trauma from childhood, especially dysfunctional family situations for which people never forgave their parents. People do not develop their emotions fully, and they unconsciously interpret the same patterns of dysfunction as love. One of these situations becomes more than they can handle, and they crash and burn.

Another reason is honest lack of purpose. Most work nowadays is "knowledge work," done with the mind. It's much harder to connect such duties with actual, meaningful results than when one works with one's hands. Without a strong foundation in God, it is impossible to derive purpose. Also, nihilism is the natural child of postmodernism and technology. When an individual must define his own truth in the face of a swiftly changing culture, he simply cannot keep up. "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." This is the result of neglecting tradition of all sorts - losing a sense of history, failing to teach literacy.

Once afflicted, people medicate. This is understandable. Not everyone is blessed with the support network I had. And I am saddened to note that I never heard anyone in Christian circles talking about depression before it hit me. But unfortunately, once on medication, often a person has to take it for life. Antidepressants actually reprogram the brain so that it becomes addicted to the condition they are meant to fix. When the drugs are removed, the brain reverts to an even more severe depressed state for a period of time before it can recover, if it can recover. That's why the warning labels on these drugs are so scary. Studies show equal or better results from cognitive behavioral therapy (i.e., talking through problems) and simple exercise.

It's not surprising that all this should be so. Fallen man is alienated from God, from others, and from his own self. A redeemed culture can alleviate this to some extent, but there remains no recourse for one that thrives on the refuse of the soul.  ¶ 12:36 PM