The Danger of Untreated Depression

Can untreated depression lead to more serious issues? Let’s think about it.  For the last few weeks, we have been talking about depression—what it is and why we may experience it. It is not something we can wish away or pray away. I got the answer to the question about what untreated depression does to you in January of 2017.  Raul came to our youth group 15 years ago and he changed our lives from that day forward. He came to us at the age of thirteen/ fourteen, very sad and with a lot of questions about life and this God we were introducing to him. These questions exasperated the many battles he had in his mind but at some point, God gave him peace without the answers, and he gave his heart to God.

While Raul was in our youth group, he confessed a lot of mental challenges he was enduring and his desire to get off of medication. As he continued to come to our church and go to youth group, he changed in such a good way. His anxiety, and other issues started to subside slowly, and it was soon approved by the doctor that he no longer needed his medication. Sam and I got closer to Raul with every passing year. He was always taking the time to talk to us, spent many hours with Sam and was even on our fine arts team.

Before we moved, something changed in him when he went away to college. Raul was never perfect, but he at least had a hold on what was right and wrong and tried to follow it. After coming back from school, he started doing things he shouldn’t have; making him question God and his existence. Sadly, it wasn’t too long after he left to college that Sam and I decided to leave the church; which we think played a large part of him walking away from the church and embracing atheism even more.  Sometimes when you are battling with things it’s just better to believe that there is no God.

It was sad, but not surprising that Raul’s mental issues returned with a vengeance. His anxiety, paranoia and mental struggle, made him unrecognizable. It was so painful to hear about the destructive things he got into; he was searching for something and was not able to find it. January of 2017—ten years later—Raul went on a quest to find God for himself. Raul accepted God’s existence as much as he could with the mental illness that was consuming him; he started going to church and talked briefly to those who were grounded in their faith.

Unfortunately, even though he received God, Raul did not make the necessary decisions to truly get the healing he once received at 15 years old. He was so sad—still sad, so depressed and alone in his mind. He was surrounded by people but felt so alone even though he had a loving mother and friends that cared deeply for him. Shortly after Christmas, he rented a room in a hotel. But before renting the room he purchased a series of chemicals –that he knew was perfectly lethal if combined—put them together and allowed the fumes to fill the room and fell asleep; never to wake up in this world again. What is so painful—which may have solidified his thoughts—is that he was dead for a few days before being found. What was he thinking as he was falling asleep? What could push someone to take their life? In a few weeks, we are going to talk about the painful thoughts of suicide.

It Depletes You

Untreated depression is just as dangerous as any other untreated disease. Has someone totally underestimated the hold, bondage, chain, it has on you? They don’t understand that when someone is drowning in their own thoughts and the heaviness of despair squeezes their brain—so to speak— all they want to do is stop it, even if it is fatal. That’s when the snowball of certain things like drug addiction and alcoholism comes in—it may be your way to self-medicate yourself. A large number of people who struggle with substance abuse have an underlying issue that brings on their depression. Many condemn people for their behavior of substance abuse but what are they doing to find out what they are running from? Do you have voices that you are trying to silence and using other things to medicate?

You know, if you struggle with it, depression is not just sadness, or a feeling—it is a mental disease that has been proven to deplete the person’s health. Someone living like this has a greater chance of getting a stroke, diabetes and the risk for heart attacks go up. How do you keep going on when these feelings never give you a break? You want to enjoy friends, family and the current moment but depression is louder than the joy inside.

So, what steps do you have to take in order to get a better handle of this disease? Well, it has been proven that exercise, anti-depressants and mild to major therapy can greatly decrease the cycle of depression but it’s not the cure. Despite everything, depression is a bondage in the mind. Our thinking and bad choices play a huge part in the directions we take in life and I spoke about that last week.

Can You Have A Victorious Life With Thoughts of Failure?

The number one thing I would want you to know…we cannot live a victorious life when we think we are a failure. What are some faulty thinking that we may have that increases our bondage?

• We magnify situations bigger than they really are. Do you tend to make mountains out of molehills? When you give something more attention than it needs to, it just increases your negativity and makes it hard to see the positive side of the situation. We must see every event in its proper size. Ask yourself if it is really worth losing your peace or if the event just needs us to be flexible.
• Depression increases when we polarize things. That’s when we tend to think in terms of extreme—it has to be black or white. Sadly, the truth sometimes falls in the “gray” area. We hate to think that there is a gray area but that is the reality. We are not always able to see only the good or only the bad—sometimes the answers to our questions are found amongst both. We have to stop having that nasty dirty habit of taking everything so personal.
• Depression can cause us to be so self-centered and self-absorbed. We overestimate the extent to which things are meant for us personally. There are times things happen and we are so convinced that it was against us or it was a reflection of us. We have to learn not to make ourselves the center of everything. If someone behaves badly, it is not always a reflection of us. Let people’s behavior be a statement of who they are and not a mirror of who you are.
• Depression decreases when we stop overgeneralizing everything. We do this when we take one bad experience and use it to predict what will happen in the future. Just because you have a falling out with someone doesn’t mean that if you were in that situation again, it will happen again. Don’t feel trapped to make the same mistakes over again or expect the same rejection, hurt or let down.
• Last but not least, if you struggle with depression you may tend to make your feelings and emotions equal to the truth. Our feelings are just that…feelings. No one can say your feelings are wrong—because those are yours—but your feelings do not equate to the truth. We tend to react to them as if they can always be trusted. It is then we make decisions, ruin relationships, and lose important things because we allow our feelings to dictate everything.

A Breeding Ground For Depression

So, after we look at our thinking the last thing we need to do, in order to reduce depression, is making decisions that will support a healthy lifestyle. There are some behaviors that the world condones that is a breeding ground for depression to fester.

Here are some examples…

God never meant for us to have more than one sexual partner. The mental, emotional, spiritual and physical investment that is needed can rip you apart every time you break up with someone and start it with a new person. I don’t care who you are, every single sexual act that you have with someone who is not your spouse kills you.

Another example is, God never intended children to be raised in a one-parent home. I do not care how many kids experience it today when a child is born, they are not wired to not need one of their two parents but both. When we continue to raise generation after generation to believe that a child can live life without a parent, it is dysfunctional. These children experience so much hurt, loss, and confusion despite how easy the separation may have been. It is like tying the legs of a puppy and demanding them to live like that. The ropes may not hurt, they may figure out a way to walk and run with the rope on, that doesn’t mean that they are going to live the life they were meant to have.

Lastly, another thing is depression feeds off of self-centeredness. The world is all about SELF-help, SELF-esteem, SELF-motivation and more. We push independence and achieving a life without others but God never meant for us to live independently of him and others. We need to drop our pride and admit to needing help, and intentionally seek after it.

I would like to end this series with the truth that even if you get medication, sit in the best therapist chair, you will not find the freedom from depression until you surrender your heart and mind to Jesus. It could be instant or be a process but there is no way for you to experience the life that God calls us to unless this happens. If you would like to finally do this, I would like to pray for you, there is nothing magical in the prayer, it’s the heart of the one that is praying it. We would love to help you through this process after, so feel free to contact us.

So, repeat this prayer:

Lord I come to you admitting that I cannot go one more day like this without you. I ask that you will come into my life and help me walk this walk. I confess that I am a sinner and you died on the cross for my sins and defeated death for me. I pray that you will change me and set me free from the chains I have on. I believe you are capable of doing it. Thank you, Lord, for everything you did. In Jesus name amen.

After doing this it is time to find a church. It is best to look at the different churches in your area and see which one fits you best.

No one can do this alone.  If you do not have a therapist or a counselor that you can go to, here is a link to Bedrock Ministries Bedrock Ministries.  Bedrock is a counseling ministry that will help walk you through this painful season.  They are a counseling ministry that can at least can advise and begin to point you in the right direction.  We would also love to be there for you.  Please feel free to contact us through our email at thruthewinters@gmail.com or comment below.

*Some of this information is from Lecture Notes: Overcoming Depression by Chris Thurman At Liberty University