Kathyrn,

I am so encouraged by your question. The workshop isn’t till Saturday 5 May ( I forgot to mention this didn’t I?), so KEEP praying.

I really hope the women who attend will benefit because I am learning so much, which is causing me to further delight our God and His goodness.

I have found Kirsten Birkett’s book “The Essence of Psychology” a great read and was bowled over by her claim that Jesus was the only right thinking man ever to walk this planet. Depressed or not, no-one thinks rightly! Every one needs to be transformed (& keep being transformed) in their thinking by the word of God. The bible addresses our thinking and in doing so our perspective on God, ourself, others, our life and our future is challenged and corrected as our feelings.

God’s word is even more wonderful and precious than I had imagined!

cheers
Angela

Tia,

Many thanks for your own and your friend’s offer. I will send you a PM and we can take it from there.

cheers
Angela

This week two Christian friends were told by fellow Christians that Christians shouldn’t be depressed. You can imagine the distress they felt and are still undergoing.

At the beginning of this week I was questioning whether it was necessary to examine common myths and misconceptions Christians have about depression. After listening to my 2 Christian friends I have been assured that it is necessary!

The more I read and listen to my fellow sufferers, the more convinced I am that poor (even false) teaching on The Fall and God’s promises are contributing to many of these myths, misconceptions and extreme positions held by some Christians.

I cannot understand why and how Christians believe that the human mind was somehow immune from the affects of The Fall. Mental illness, like depression, is evidence enough that every aspect of the human condition was profoundly affected by evil and sin. Our minds, our thinking, our feelings, our bodies are sick: no-one has escaped the affect of sin. How it manifests and when is a matter for each individual.

It just goes to show how important good theology is to how we love and encourage each other. Prime biblical example is Job and his friends.

Please pray for my 2 friends: that they will forgive and be healed from these conversations. Also for my talk: in all humility not to err in my theology because it is God’s word I am dealing with and His beloved bride whom He dearly values and loves.

with thanks
Angela

[quote author="Angela Crittle"]This week two Christian friends were told by fellow Christians that Christians shouldn’t be depressed. You can imagine the distress they felt and are still undergoing.

I can, indeed.

At the beginning of this week I was questioning whether it was necessary to examine common myths and misconceptions Christians have about depression. After listening to my 2 Christian friends I have been assured that it is necessary!

Do it, Angela! And make sure that as many people as possible hear or read your talk. For those unable to hear your talk live and in person, maybe it could be recorded and made available for listening and/or reading on the internet.

It just goes to show how important good theology is to how we love and encourage each other.

Isn’t it ironic, that sometimes it is when we are trying to encourage each other that we say things that, in fact, do the opposite. (No, this wasn’t a free plug for Gordon’s book!

Also for my talk: in all humility not to err in my theology because it is God’s word I am dealing with and His beloved bride whom He dearly values and loves.

Indeed. Will pray.

I, for one, am looking forward to hearing and/or reading what you have to say.

Cheers,
Andrew

Talk on depression

I also am coming up to give my talk on Depression at a local Anglican Church in May.  When I met with the committee the otother day, they sussed me out to make sure that I was not going to say that Christians should not be depressed.  I will be following a talk by a representative of the local Community health Centre on Anxiety, during a Moore College Mission week.

I am meeting with a friend next week to mind map what I want to say, to fit in with the committee’s expectations, and then will go away and write the talk.  I bought a book written by a Christian Psychologist and Psychiatrist in the UK and when I read it, it was “espousing” a type of “christian” counselling which I do not agree with.  What a disappointment.

I want to make sure that people have questions answered, know where to go for help for what type of mental illness, and also talk about the mythconceptions that are around with Christians and Depression/mental illness.

My prayer is that the ladies who come will leave having hope and that hope cannot be diminshed even if, at times, it seems to lose its relevance and importance in their lives.  And really more importantly, they will know that our Christian hope and joy is in Christ and not in us or this world.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Thanks for your prayers. The workshop on Depression went well. We had some very good feedback straight after the workshop and at the end of the day. Praise God!

I am hoping for some constructive critical feedback from the formal Evaluation Sheet.

Narelle Jarrett was the guest speaker (re the Holy Spirit and me). She was excellent!

My prayers go before you, Gillian.

once again many thanks
Angela

Talk on Depression

I was just praying for you this week Angela.  Great news, and so glad it seemed to go well for you presenting, and for the listeners.  My talk has been moved to early August.

regards
Gill.

Dear Angela

The experience of those two christia friends is not an isolated one.

I have had depression for years, previously undiagnosed. I received many negative responses from fellow christians when I communicated how I was sstruggling, and just rejection or either indifference fvrom others when simply struggling.

The strongest aid for someone struggling with any kind of mental illness bis the love of those around them. For some reason christians either find this hard to do, or have some idea that christians shouldn’t struggle in this way. A loving community is exactly what a person suffering from depression needs, since one of the things we feel is unworthiness and sense of being a burden to others.

It’s necesary for christians to overcome the barriers of social niceties that leave all christians to struggle with things on our own, especially those suffering an alienating problem like depression.

I’m going to look closely at the websites suggested, but reading this stuff alone will probably not be sufficient fr most of us - the love of those who go out of their way to make sure that we know we are loved is vital.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend and I were asked to give our depression workshop/talk again in late August. Last night we decided to accept the offer.

I learnt a bundle the first time around and intend fine-tuning my talk.

Once again, I seek your prayer support. Most of all I ask you to pray that all that is said is extremely clear, medically and biblically sound, glorifying to God and of benefit to the Christians who attend our workshop.

many thanks
Angela

Angela

I pray that not only will the upcoming talk be successful, but that also the women touched by the previous talk have found a mature christian woman with whom to discuss their struggles with depression in a safe encouraging and supportive environment.

Astonishing arrogance!

Not surprising though. (I have heard it before, haven’t we all?)
To claim that Christians shouldn’t get depressed is absurd. I wonder what folks like that would say about any other mental illness, or is depression a special case to be isolated from the others?

A psychologist friend of mine reported to me that when working with a Christian couple, one of the couple told her that she wouldn’t understand them as they were Christians, and therefore she could not help.
Astonishing!
They would see a non-Christian doctor, but somehow psychology is God’s realm (does this imply the body isn’t?).

Owen,

It is astonishing and incredibly naive. Poor theology really does have a lot to answer for!

Mental illness is often be singled out for such insensitive comments. But just the other day, a friend told me of a church elder at her childhood church who told a fellow Christian with cancer to repent of their unconfessed sin and experience healing. Grrrrr.

Angela

Hi Angela,

I’m with you on this one. Some people seem to forget that we live in a fallen world & are sinful by nature where suffering wasn’t ever meant to be part of God’s plan for us.

Depression is a lot more older than most folks think. Martin Luther suffered it as did Charles Spurgeon along with Dostoyevsky, Beethoven, Lincoln & others to boot.

If you suffer from it, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed or embarassed about because it is so not your fault.

I’ve struggeld with it for many years & it’s one of those illnesses that can never be truly understood unless if you yourself have suffered from it.

It is about time we started addressing the issue & bring it out of the shadows. There’s nothing worse than to be trapped in a terrible situation such as deperssion & not be able to get out of it because they lacked the education & the tools to get out.

I’ll be praying for my fellow brothers & sisters in Christ that struggle with this debilitating illness.

In Christ,

Peter Ristevski.