Battling the Shadows: Christians and Depression Pt # 1

Depression doesn't discriminate—even among the faithful. Exploring the often-taboo intersection of Christianity and depression, this episode tackles the persistent question many believers struggle with: Can a Christian experience depression?

The answer is a resounding yes. Drawing from scripture, professional experience, and personal struggle, I unpack how approximately 7.6 million Christians in America silently battle depression while facing the added burden of stigma within their faith communities. This stigma creates a painful paradox where those who most need support feel unable to seek it without judgment or shame.

Depression manifests across multiple dimensions of human experience. Cognitively, it creates brain fog and difficulty concentrating. Emotionally, it weighs down the spirit with persistent sadness. Behaviorally, it leads to withdrawal from activities and relationships that once brought joy. Physically, it disrupts sleep, appetite, and overall well-being. For Christians specifically, depression often adds a fifth dimension—spiritual struggle—where prayers feel unanswered and God's presence seems distant despite intellectual understanding of His love.

As both a therapist with over 65,000 clinical hours and someone who has personally wrestled with depression, I share insights from my recently re-released book "Getting a Grip on Depression." This episode marks the beginning of a five-part series that offers practical, proven tools for understanding and overcoming depression while maintaining your faith. Through it all, we're reminded of the hope found in Psalm 42:11: "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God." Even in our darkest moments, God's presence remains constant, offering the light that guides us toward healing.

If you've ever felt alone in your struggle with depression as a believer, this episode affirms your experience. It offers a pathway forward that honors both your faith and your need for comprehensive support. Subscribe to join me on this journey toward resilience and renewed hope.

Get John's book & Bible Study Getting a Grip on Depression, for Free on Kindle Unlimited.

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Transcript

Introduction to Christians and Depression

Speaker 1 0:00

Resilient Solutions, episode 68, christians and Depression. Well, hello, my name's John Thurman and welcome to my podcast, john Thurman's Resilient Solutions Shortcast, where I help you become more resilient in your personal life, your relationships and in your faith. And I have a big question for you today Can a Christian struggle with depression? Well, the correct answer is yes, but over my life journey as a Christian, struggle with depression? Well, the correct answer is yes, but over my life journey as a Christian, I've heard people talk about how depression is a sin, all sorts of crazy explanations for depression. The answer is yes, christians can suffer from depression. We see depressive symptoms all throughout the Bible, but the good news is there's hope and healing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The bad news is one of the reasons a lot of Christians struggle with depression is because of the weight of the stigma of mental illness.

Speaker 1 0:51

My name is John Thurman and we are going to tackle this whole issue of depression in Christians. We'll be using the next five or six weeks to talk about this. One of the reasons for discussing this is an issue that just doesn't go away. The second is my re-release of my book Getting a Grip on Depression. I'm grateful you joined me today For this podcast. I'll be discussing some of the issues with depression, including the stigma of mental illness in the church, as well as understanding the depths of depression and the spiritual struggle involved in it. I'm glad you joined me. I'm going to give you some practical, practical, proven tools for you to understand depression and to help find a way out of it. Thanks so much for joining me. Let's jump right in. Hello, I'm John Thurman. I'm a therapist and an author, and today we're beginning the first of a five-week podcast series on Christians and depression. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing with you some insights about depression, as well as some practical things that you can do to keep depression at bay or, if the middle of it, some practical things you can do to enhance and expedite your recovery. So glad you joined me. Well, let's jump right in. It's amazing when you look at how many people struggle with depression. The statistics are staggering, with approximately 21 million US adults having a major episode in the past year or so. Among them, a significant number are Christians and in my lifetime there's been some controversy about Christians and mental illness and Christians and depression, but I believe Christians do struggle with depression, because we see people in the scriptures, struggling with depression. Well, there's some fascinating studies. In addition to 21 million US citizens being impacted by major depression, as many as 7.6 million members of the Christian community may also be silently battling this distressing reality.

Speaker 1 2:39

Fascinating article by Dr Len Lance. You can get a link to it in my show notes. He indicated that while faith does give us some buffer against mental illnesses, he believes that one of the reasons that we don't see more data on Christians and mental illness is the fact there is so much shame associated with mental illness. We'll talk about that today also. I'll just mention it one more time. I think it's a great article to read. He really talks about a great picture that he's finding. He reminds us that believers who actively participate in their faith and in their practice and in their community tend to experience lower rates of depression, anxiety disorders and a whole host of mental illness issues, which is wonderful because it talks about the benefit of faith. The article really serves as a beacon of hope, demonstrating that our faith can be a powerful tool in battling depression and discouragement. Still, it's essential to you and me that we acknowledge that, as believers, we are not immune from the effects of biology, sin, trauma and genetics, and that depressions can impact every type of human being.

Understanding Depression Statistics and Stigma

Speaker 1 3:42

One of the greatest challenges for Christians getting help is the stigma of having a mental health issue. In many churches today, there's still a huge stigma about needing help for mental health issues. This stigma can be a burden leading to fear and shame, which will discourage individuals from seeking the help they might need or even being willing to admit their struggles. Recognizing this reality was a pivotal point in my journey when I was dealing with my own depression and some PTSD, all of which led to me writing my book Getting a Grip on Depression, which has just been re-released, and writing that book really helped me put a lot of these things together in my own life, but also in a way that I could share with others. Golly, with over 65,000 hours as a clinician, I know a little bit, but when I had to apply a lot of this in my own life, it really made the scriptures and the truth about mental illness and some of the challenges we all face become real and personal.

Speaker 1 4:35

Let's move on. We need to talk about the stigma. I touched base on that, so need to talk about the stigma. I touched base on that. So many pastors today are doing what they can do to diminish that stigma by emphasizing mental health issues and sharing openly with people. We're seeing a lot more Christians acknowledging issues. We're seeing a plethora of Christian books and resources designed to help people with depression.

Speaker 1 4:55

And since we're talking about depression, I want to talk about four of the really big deals that we have to look at when looking at depression. I've talked about this in the blog, but I want to just review these to you real quick. You see, depressive symptoms often manifest at least on four and five areas. So today my purpose with you is just to share with you five of those areas to help you maybe gain a little bit more understanding in your personal life or maybe in in your relationships or even in the job side. If you've got someone who is struggling with depression, you might can give them some tools. Let's talk about the four big areas, and then I want to share with you just a little bit about some spiritual impacts of depression.

Speaker 1 5:33

Well, first of all, depression impacts your thinking. When you're depressed, you'll find that your thinking may feel kind of cloudy and clogged up. You may feel kind of wonky, you may feel kind of sluggish and foggy. Many times that brain fog and feeling kind of off your game a little bit or feeling muddled is one of the early earmarks of depression. You might struggle with concentration or decision making, which is kind of important and also very frustrating if you feel like you're not quite on your game. Recognize that your thinking might be off is really the first step in being able to understand if maybe something's off a little bit.

Speaker 1 6:11

Number two is your mood. If sadness persists, if a person is constantly feeling sad, they don't feel a lift, they feel weighed down, then it's essential to realize that could be depression. So many times that weight of discouragement can just tie you down. It drags on your heart, it drags on your brain, it drags on your spirit. Nevertheless, it's crucial to reflect on these feelings and seek the support you need. If you find yourself off a little bit, your thinking is off a little bit, you're feeling sad and kind of mopier than usual. Pay attention to that. That may be your body trying to drop a hint that you're headed for some trouble. And this is when you begin to feel this. You might need to think about getting support. This support might include reaching out to a friend, a trusted confidant, a spiritual mentor, someone who's discipling you a pastor, a medical provider or a licensed therapist. So thinking, your thinking feels sluggish and slow, your mood is flat, you're depressed, you're feeling sad. You don't have that jump in your step anymore.

Speaker 1 7:14

Number three is behavior. Depression typically leads to withdrawal from life and relationships. In other words, you don't enjoy the things you used to do as much as you did, or you don't enjoy the company of other people like you used to. So when you're acting depressed newsflash, you might be just a little bit depressed. That depression is really interesting because it leads to that withdrawal, like I said, from life and relationships. How does that work itself out? Well, sometimes you may feel like things that used to be really simple and easy to do feel monumental, oh my gosh. Yes. And when you're facing just some of those daily challenges in life, they can seem like they're insurmountable. And if thoughts of despair begin to rise up, remember that reaching out for help is a valid step.

Speaker 1 8:01

Number four are some magic concerns. The body often mirrors the inner turmoil of the mind. Changes in your appetite, your intimacy, your sleep patterns can all be signals, early signals of depression. These physical manifestations may amplify emotional pain, serving as a reminder of our need for comprehensive healing. Just to review those once again. You've got. Your thinking may feel foggy, your mood may be sad and withdrawn, your behavior will probably be withdrawn and detached and you may not find joy and pleasure in things that used to bring you joy and pleasure. And then physical ailments, sickness and pain might be amplified.

Spiritual Struggles During Depression

Speaker 1 8:40

But there's a fifth area that's really important for Christians and that's the spiritual struggle. When you begin feeling depressed and withdrawn, when you begin to experience these other four things, many times believers will begin to feel disconnected from God. They will feel that they've done something wrong, they've sinned, they're really a bad person and shame begins to kind of build up in their mind. They begin to become hyper aware of just a whole bunch of negative stuff and they begin to ask where is God in all of this? Honestly, they feel like they dialed a prayer and it goes boom, boom, boom. The number dialed a prayer has been disconnected because you're such a loser. How do I know when I was struggling with my depression, even though I knew in my mind that God loved me and accepted me, warts and all I sure didn't feel like it. So many times when we're depressed we feel like God's abandoned us during the tough times. It can lead us to guilt and shame and questions about our journey of faith. It's important to remember that God's presence is constant, whether we feel it or not. The good news is is out of that pain and struggle we can see growth.

Speaker 1 9:45

If you'd like to learn more about this and study scriptures about this, let me encourage you to purchase my book Getting a Grip on Depression. There'll be a link in the show notes In the coming weeks. I want to give you some insights on how you can manage depression, and we'll talk about the problem with stinking thinking or cognitive distortions. We'll also talk about some other things that we can do to kind of identify depression, but not just to identify it, but help you and I learn to deal with depression in a way that honors God and encourages others.

Hope and Encouragement from Scripture

Speaker 1 10:15

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, it's crucial to understand that you are not alone and that help is available. We can emerge from these shadows into the light and hope of God's grace and mercy, ready to embrace the fullness of life that God intends for us. As we get ready to wrap up the day, let me share with you one encouraging piece of scripture. This is from Psalm 42, verse 11 in the New Living Translation. Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God. I will praise him again, my Savior and my God. Even in those darkest places of loneliness and despair, god wants to touch your heart and speak out to you.

Speaker 1 10:57

Thank you for joining me today. My name is John Thurman and to find out more about me, simply go to johnthurmannet. God bless you. Have a great day. Remember this is the day that the Lord has made and I will make a choice to rejoice and be glad in it. If you like, be sure you like it and subscribe to this podcast. Once again, god bless. I'll see you next time, thank you.