"Hope Beyond the Darkness: Finding God's Strength Through Depression"

In this encouraging episode of Soaring In Health & Wellness, Dr. Steve Wells addresses the serious topics of depression and suicide awareness through both a clinical and biblical lens. Drawing from the work of Dr. Matthew Stanford and other respected mental health resources, he explains that depression is far more than a temporary feeling of sadness—it is a real condition that affects millions of people and can impact every dimension of life. Dr. Wells reminds listeners that no one is immune to emotional struggles, but neither is anyone beyond hope. With proper support, counseling, treatment, and the encouragement of caring individuals, healing and restoration are possible.

Most importantly, this episode points listeners to the enduring hope found in God. Using the life of King David as an example, Dr. Wells shows that even faithful followers of God can experience deep emotional pain, yet God's love, faithfulness, and presence remain constant through every trial. David found strength by bringing his sorrow to the Lord, and that same invitation is available to us today. Whether you are facing depression personally or walking alongside someone who is hurting, this episode offers a message of compassion, hope, and encouragement: seek help, stay connected, trust in God's promises, and remember that with His strength, you can continue to rise above life's challenges and soar toward healing, purpose, and wellness.

Transcript

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Hello, and thank you for listening to Soaring in Health and Wellness with Dr. Steve Wells. Dr. Wells is a chiropractic physician with a passion to help individuals reach new levels in health and wellness. He has been involved in the health and wellness field for over 30 years. Dr. Wells received his Bachelor of Science degree from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with an emphasis in health and exercise science. He received his second Bachelor of Science degree in general sciences, along with his Doctor of Chiropractic degree with honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Soaring in Health and Wellness is a tool to help educate individuals reach new levels in health and wellness and a passion to live with a sense of purpose and vitality. Dr. Wells and his guests, ranging from doctors from all areas of health care to educators, nurses, personal trainers, counselors, and pastors, will discuss and inform you on how to improve all dimensions of wellness from a biblical worldview perspective with one goal in mind: seeing you soar towards optimal health and wellness. If you're ready, let's get started with today's program with your host, Dr. Steve Wells.

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Welcome to another edition of Soaring in Health and Wellness. This month is a very busy month, packed month. We have great guests that will be uh spending some time with us, and it is the National Month of Suicide Awareness for the month of October. We have guests such as Dr. Stephen Gibbons and his colleague, Michael Moore. Dr. Gibbs is a co-owner and counselor for the Counseling and Wellness Center. They have three locations: one in Parkersburg, West Virginia, one in Belprey, Ohio, and they just opened one in Taze Valley in West Virginia, so they are growing. Dr. Gibbons basically is a specialty in family systems. He sees couples, families, groups, and individuals of all ages. He is a nationally certified addictions counselor and has a passion for Christian counseling. His colleague or co-owner of the Counseling Wellness Center is Michael Moore. Michael has his experience with most mental health and relationship difficulties and extensive experience with learning and developmental disorders. He trains teachers and school administrators and collaborates, collaborates, there we go, with schools to improve behavior for students experiencing classroom difficulties. The name of their business is the Counseling and Wellness Center, and they basically say healthy mind, healthy life. At their counseling and wellness center, they believe life is a journey of healing, growing, relating, and living. Among the events of life, you can anticipate there are unforeseen circumstances that can make the journey difficult and overwhelming. Dr. Stephen Gibbons and Michael, basically interprofessional staff whom are highly qualified, experienced, and caring, will join you on your journey when life's circumstances become unmanageable. Counseling Wellness Center was funded by Dr. Priscilla Levitt. The center's primary focus has always been their clients, and so it remains under new leadership, such as co-owners and counselors Stephen Gibbons and Michael Moore. With over 15 highly qualified and experienced professionals and a committed and caring staff, the Counseling Wellness Center offers comfort and security in a warm environment where you can build trusting relationships as you commit openly to your treatment at your own pace. So they will be with us next episode. And uh another guest that we'll be having on this month will be Tim Kraft. He has High on Hope Ministries. Uh Tim Kraft was basically also Dr. Givens and Michael have been guests of mine before. And Tim was with us when we were basically uh talking about changing bad behaviors, and he kind of gave his testimony. So if you hadn't had a chance to listen to Tim's story, you might want to go back there and listen to it. Uh but if those who haven't heard Tim's story, uh Tim basically was addicted to opiates for 12 years. He lived for so many years searching for his identity and drugs. His addiction escalated quickly, and before he knew it, he was shooting heroin every day. On April 6, 2013, he lost his sister to a drug overdose. That event set Tim deeper into his addiction to cope with his pain. Ultimately, Tim overdosed in February of 2014. Just after that, a friend of his reached out to him and he wanted to see Tim get the help that he needed. Tim's friend introduced him to Jesus on March 1st, 2014. Tim found freedom from addiction. He gave his hearts of Jesus Christ and entered a faith-based recovery program called Dream Life with Eddie Jane's Ministries. Tim eventually became the director of that program and got put on his heart to start High on Hope Ministries. To help combat the addiction crisis in our region, Tim has a passion to reach those who are lost in addiction and point them toward freedom. The love Tim felt from God healed his heart and led him on a mission to bring freedom to this generation. So he started High on Hope Ministries, and it is a Christ-centered outreach ministry that focuses primarily on helping those coming out of addiction. Their goal is to bring Jesus to the center of the addiction epidemic. The desire is to see a generation set free. They offer treatment placement, crisis intervention, and hold workshops and classes to help equip communities on how to be effective in helping those addicted and their families. They travel to churches across the country to spread the message of hope that they believe the Lord has called them to share. And on his website, you can go on High On Hope Ministries and just Google that and you'll come to his website. And on his website, he notes uh 116 people die each day from opioid overdose. And notes in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at a greater rate. This subsequently led to widespread diversion and misuse or diversion and misuse of these medications before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive. Opioid overdose rates began to increase in 2015. More than 33,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids heroin, an illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. That same year, an estimated 2 million people in the United States suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain. Relievers in 591,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder, not mutually exclusive. And the final guest that we'll be having on this month will be Dr. Hope Taylor. I know Dr. Hope Taylor. He is a uh former pastor of a church in Georgia. Uh, he also is involved in his basically in the International Leadership Embassy. And uh the mission of the International Leadership Embassy is to connect and inform the church in America with the cultural mountain of government. Dr. Hope Taylor travels around our nation and in and out of Washington, D.C., addressing the political and cultural issues of our day from a biblical kingdom worldview. He has worked diligently for several years to build relationships with key government role leaders to get a better understanding of how the church can serve in this area and make a bigger impact on our nation. Dr. Hope Taylor delivers a hopeful message of shifting America back to its roots and destiny. And you ask me why Dr. Hope Taylor is basically helping me with this month's suicide awareness, is because not only is he a former pastor of a church, but he also had a brother that committed suicide. And so I wanted to basically ask Dr. Hope Taylor to kind of give his story going through that experience that I couldn't even imagine how dreadful that was to help others who may be going through through similar circumstances. So I'm looking forward to speaking to Dr. Hope later on in the month. Again, as far as what we'll be speaking on is um basically suicide awareness. And if you were with us last episode, we had David Wells, and David basically goes into the school system uh speaking on different topics, but a lot of times speaking on anti-bullying. And we noticed the talked about the psychological effects, the short-term and long-term effects. And one of those basically was depression, and a lot of times uh we were looking at the effects both on the bully, the victim, and the observer. So everything kind of ties in. And like I said, a major uh psychological impact on each of those, the bully, the victim, and the observer, is depression and also thoughts of suicide. So when I was thinking about our uh episode tonight or today, depending on what time it is in your world, um, I use basically a great book, awesome book. Uh, I recommend this book for every pastor, family member, individual, anybody that is dealing with a mental crisis. Uh, when I was basically looking to speak uh to a leadership, uh, probably about a year and a half ago, um, I wanted to look, you know, at mental health, but also kind of find out, you know, a biblical perspective. And if you know, as far as wellness, as we mentioned before, is a combination and a relation between not only physical but spiritual, mental, emotional, financial. There's several different components that make up overall wellness, and they all are interrelated, and so one affects the other. So this is not my wheelhouse, this is not my expertise. I am a chiropractor, and so I do a lot with the physical body. And so when I was dealing with this, again, that's why I asked Dr. uh Stephen Gibbons and Michael to help me on this, and um, it's been a difficult trying to get this episode put out there. Uh, we had Michael and Stephen uh in on Monday to do a recording, and it about halfway through everything just kind of shut off, and so we lost everything. So they will be back on Monday to do recording for us uh and help us uh lay the found work of suicide. As far as uh the book, again, this is a book that I recommend highly, and I use it as a source. I constantly uh read it, I uh uh quote it and so forth. So again, I have to give a lot of credit of what you're gonna be hearing uh today in this podcast from Dr. Matthew Stanford. Uh Dr. Matthew Stan is a PhD from Baylor University. He's the CEO of the Hope and Healing Center and Institute in Houston, and is adjunct professor in the Minneter Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine and the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed journals, articles in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience. Uh Kay Warren basically says this about the book that I use. It's called Grace for the Afflicted. And uh she says I wholeheartedly recommend Grace for the Afflicted for any pastor or church leader who is looking for a reliable resource on understanding mental illness and treatment with a biblical perspective. Dr. Matthew Stanford's extensive background as a neurobiologist is shaped by his vibrant and personal faith in God as a wounded healer who has compassion on his children who suffer. And that was from Kay Warren. Uh, when I opened up this book, I was looking for, and he's got a great chapter for the fatal decision. I think it's chapter 14 of this book. And in the heading, it says basically, suicide is what the death certificate says when one dies of depression. And that is from Dr. Peter D. Kramer. Dr. Stanford describes suicide as a word that provokes fear, shame, and sadness. Some have called suicide a selfish act and a permanent answer to a temporary problem. He continues to explain that both of these statements wrongly imply that suicide is a reason and rational decision to take one's life. Since its beginning, the church has struggled with understanding the spiritual consequences of suicide, at times even refusing burial and religious rights to the victims because they were thought to have committed an unforgiven mortal sin, damning them to hell. Additionally, he notes that suicide is neither reason nor rational, and mental illness is the most common cause. Well, I tell you what, I, you know, again, I I when I found that book and was reading that book, that book's about everything that I need as far as the biblical perspective, but also he talks uh about different other diff uh mental disorders, uh, some therapy, treatment, um, prevalence, uh, risk factors. Um, it's just it's just an awesome book. So again, thank you, Dr. Stanford, uh, for putting time in and writing that book. Um, so basically, we look at um the key denominator as far as any type of suicide is depression. And Dr. not Dr. But Rebecca Donatelli in her book Health the Basics. She mentions basically a major or clinical depression is not the same as having a bad day or feeling down after a negative experience. It is also not something that can be wished away or ignored for the sake of growing a thicker skin. Major depression is the most common mood disorder affecting approximately 7% of the United States population. And this is from sources, the National Institute of Mental Health. Major depression is characterized by a combination of symptoms that interfere with work, study, sleep, appetite, relationships, and enjoyment of life. Symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years and vary in intensity. Again, this is from the National Institute of Mental Health. Depression is very common. It's very it's a factor along with um any type of pretty much mental disorder, but suicide, uh, anything like that, uh, depression plays a major factor. And that's why I want to talk a little bit about depression. Um, common signs of depression would include sadness and despair, loss of motivation or interest in pleasurable activities, preoccupation with failures and inadequacies, concern over what others are thinking, difficulty concentrating, indecisiveness, memory lapses, loss of sex drive or interest in close interactions with others, fatigue and loss of energy, slow reactions, sleeping too much or too little, insomnia, feeling agitated, worthless, or hopeless, withdrawal from friends and family, diminished or increased appetite, or significant weight loss or weight gain, recurring thoughts that life isn't worth living, thoughts of death or suicide. And um, you know, as far as again, it some people may not um show depression in certain ways. I know women are a little bit different than men. Um, there is a basically an article uh again, basically in this book, Health the Basics, by Rebecca, and it comes from a source from the National Institute of Mental Health, and it talks about pretty much depression across gender and age and ethnicity. But I wanted to point out as far as depression may affect persons of every age, gender, and ethnicity. So everyone could be affected, um, but again, there's depression is no respect of a person, age, gender, color of your skin. It does not always manifest itself in the same way across all populations. As I said before, women are almost twice as likely as men to experience depression. Now they can kind of talk about hormonal changes, that may be one factor. But if you think about it, women are basically, I don't know about you, but my wife is the cornerstone to our household. She does everything, and um it's it's just awesome what she does. But it is if you look at women, women face various stressors related to multiple responsibilities, such as work, child rearing, single parenthood, household work, and caring for the elderly parents at rates much higher than those in men. Researchers have observed gender differences and coping strategies and have proposed that some women's strategies make them more vulnerable to depression. Typically, men try to distract themselves from a depressed mood, whereas women focus on it. If focusing obsessively on negative feelings intensifies these feelings, women who do this may predispose themselves to depression. Whereas depression in men is often masked by alcohol or drug abuse, by socially acceptable habit of working excessively long hours. Typically, depressed men present not as hopeless and helpless, but as irritable, angry, and discouraged, often personifying a tough guy image. Men are less likely to admit that they are depressed, and doctors are less likely to suspect it based on what men report during doctors' visits. Also, depression can affect men's physical health in a different way than it can affect women's health. Although depression is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease in both men and women, it is also associated with a higher risk of death by heart disease in men. Men are also more likely to act on suicide feelings and are usually more successful at suicide as well. Suicide rates among depressed men are four times those among depressed women. If you look at the age, uh today, depression in children is increasingly reported, with one in ten children between ages six and twelve experiencing persistent feelings of sadness, which is the hallmark of depression. Depressed children may pretend to be sick, refuse to go to school, or have a son drop in school performance, sleep constantly, engage in self-inhalation, abuse drugs or alcohol, feel misunderstood, or attempt suicide. Before adolescence, girls and boys experience depression at about the same rate, but by adolescence and young adulthood, girls experience depression more than boys do. This may be due to biological and hormonal changes, girls struggle with self-esteem, perceptions of success and approval, and an increase in girls' exposure to traumas that may contribute to depression, such as childhood, sexual abuse, and poverty. As adults, their middle and older years, most are emotionally stable and lead active and satisfying lives. However, when depression does occur, it is often undiagnosed or untreated, particularly in people with lower income groups or who lack access to community to resources or medications. Depression is considered the most common mental disorder of people age 65 and older, and older adults, adults may be less likely to discuss feelings of sadness, loss, helplessness, or other symptoms, or they may attribute the depression to aging. And again, that's from the National Institute of Mental Health. If we look at the prevalence and age onset, and this is coming from again, uh Dr. Matthew Stanford's work or his book, Grace for the Afflicted, and he notes basically lifetime prevalence of the depressive disorders in the United States is estimated to be 16.6% for major depressive disorder and 2.5% for persistent depressive disorder. And that comes from Ronald Kessler, and that is from the DSM4 disorders in the National Comor Comority Survey Replication. And the depressive disorders occur more commonly in women than men. The age of onset for the first major depressive episode is usually late adolescence or early adulthood. Although the first episode, he notes, can occur at any age. He continues to note a family history of depression increases the likelihood that a child will also have a depressive disorder. Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the United States and the second leading cause of disability worldwide. This is from Elise Ferrari and also from Christopher Murray and Alan Lopez. If you look at some of the risk factors, and this is from Dr. Stanford, uh he looks at childhood risk factors that can include uh such things as parental loss or separation, abandonment, neglect, physical or sexual abuse. Individuals who have a negative outlook on life, low self-esteem, and self-defeating or distorted thinking are more likely to develop depressive episodes in response to stressful life events. David, last episode, mentioned um and when he was speaking to us that he also talks about more as far as um he thinks kids get picked on basically as far as low self-esteem. And so he kind of works with them on jujitsu and uh doing a great job in the school system. There's some additional risk factors, low socioeconomic status, little or no social support, chronic sleep problems, chronic or disabling mental conditions, significant stress from negative life events such as the loss of a job, financial difficulties, long term unemployment, after death of a family member, or divorce may also play a role in triggering a depressive episode. And that comes from the DSM five. Dr. Stanford notes that while depression is a dark and painful disorder, a number of effective treatments have been developed that can bring Significant relief to those who are suffering. He continues to know more than 80% of people with a depressive disorder improve when they receive appropriate treatment. So that's why it's important to seek out your medical doctor, a professional counselor, a mental health care provider, a pastor, someone to get the help that you need so that you can get better. And you're not on your own. There's people out there help that love you and that will support you and help uh get you the need that you do deserve and so forth. So um when we when we're basically dealing with the defeating depression, uh there are a couple things that we note and so forth. And uh basically the first step in defeating depression is pretty much in recognizing it. If you feel you have a depression symptom, set up an appointment with a counselor. Depression is often a biological condition that you can't just get over on your own. You may need to talk to therapy. Therapist, sometimes combined with medication, to help you reach a place where you are able to play a greater role in getting well. Once you have started along a path of therapy and healing, the following strategies may help you feel better faster. Again, this is from Rebecca Dontelli. She suggests set realistic goals in light of the depression and assume a reasonable amount of responsibility. Break large tasks into smaller ones, set priorities and do what you can as you can. Three, try to be with other people and confide in someone. Four, mild exercise, going to a movie or a ball game, or participating in religious or social activities may help. Five, take a course in yoga or meditation or some other mind-body practice. These disciplines can help you connect with your inner feelings, release tension, and into your mind to make room for positive thoughts. Expect your mood to improve gradually, not immediately. Feeling better takes time. Consider postponing important decisions until the depression has lifted before deciding to make a significant transition, change jobs or get married or divorced. Discuss it with others who know you well and have a more objective view of your situation. Let your friends and family help you. And continue working with your counselor. As far as with uh Dr. Stanford's work, he um in this chapter he talks about a biblical example of someone that we all know, or most of us know, who attend church, or who don't attend church, about a major depressive disorder. And that individual is King David. And this source comes from Lebove Banao, mental disorders that afflicted King David the Great. And basically, there is a chart that talks about the characteristic symptoms that King David had. And it says a thorough review of his writings shows that David describes experiencing all symptoms of major depressive disorders. Some of the characteristics that David had was depressed mood. His symptoms were mourning, sorrow, all day, weeping. And this is from Psalms chapter 6, verses 6 through 7, chapter 13, verse 2, chapter 31, verse 10, and again chapter 38, verse 6, and so forth. Another characteristic something that King David had was significant weight loss or decreasing appetite. His symptoms, he forgets to eat, bones, cling to flesh, weak from fasting. Reference is Psalms chapter 102 verses 4 through 5, and chapter 109, verse 24. Another characteristic is insomnia. David's symptoms were crying all night, no rest at night, couldn't sleep. Reference is Psalms 6, verse 6, chapter 22, verse 2, chapter 102, verse 7, and 2 Samuel 11, verse 2. Another characteristic that David had was psychomotor retardation. His symptoms, like a deaf and dumb man, fear and trembling. Reference is Psalms chapter 38, verses 13 through 14, and chapter 55, verse 5. Another characteristic that David had was fatigue or loss of energy. His symptoms, strength dried up, fails, vitality drained away, heart has withered away. Reference Psalms chapter 22, verse 14 through 15, chapter 31, verse 10, chapter 32, verse 4, chapter 38, verse 10, and chapter 102, verse 4. Characteristic feelings of worthlessness, his symptoms, a worm, not a man, a reproach to others, no one cares for my soul. Song of the drunkards. Reference Psalms chapter 22 verse 6, chapter 31, verses 12 through 13, chapter 69, verse 12. Another characteristics, diminished ability to think or concentrate or indecisiveness. Symptom that David had, did not go to war, unable to discipline his rebellious sons. Reference, 2 Samuel, chapter 11, verse 1, chapter 13, verse 21, chapter 18, verse 5, chapter 19, verses 1 through 7, and 1 Kings chapter 1, verse 6. And the final characteristic that David had was recurrent thoughts of death. David's symptoms, dust of death, terrors of death. Reference was Psalms chapter 22, verse 15, and chapter 55, verse 4. So you can see not only are we affected by depression, but back in the day they were affected as well. As far as I like to close our thoughts as far as with Dr. Stanford, his closing thoughts, and I really love the way he summed this up. He says there's an important lesson to be learned from this biblical example of depression. A time before psychological and psychiatric treatments existed, David found relief from his suffering and God's unchanging character, infinite faithfulness, and unconditional love. David took his sorrow and pain to God, and there he found a foundation of hope from which he could rebuild. Hope that transcends our circumstances, even depression, is only available in the loving God who created us, sustains us, and made a way for us to be in an eternal relationship with Him. David knew this truth well, and he tightly held to it throughout his life. Our first response in times of mental distress should be to seek God. Finding our hope in Him is the first step on a journey to recovery. And that is from Dr. Matthew Stanford in his book, Grace for the Afflicted. So if you're looking for a book that deals with clinical and biblical perspective on mental illness, I highly recommend his book. For those in our closing so forth, the main important thing is to get help. Talk to a friend, talk to a pastor, again, find a mental health care provider. Like I said, you know, if you're here in the area, Counseling Wellness Center is excellent. They have many professionals that could help you. Again, we have our guests, Dr. Stephen Gibbons and Michael Moore, who are on our program regularly. They have three locations. If you have an addiction or they can help you as well, but also I know High Island Hope Ministries basically does a great job with dealing with that. But until next time, I want you to keep on advancing towards optimal health and wellness. Thank you.

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Thank you for listening to Sorry in Health and Wellness with Dr. Steve Wells and his guests. We would like to thank our sponsor, Mountaineer Chiropractic. For more information, go online to MountaineerCairo.com. If you'd like to be a sponsor or help support Soaring in Health and Wellness Podcast, please go to the web at Eaglesway Ministries.org and select the patron page in the top menu bar. If you or your business or church would like Dr. Steve Wells to speak at your church, special event or conference, please go online to Eaglesways Ministries.org and select contact on the menu bar. Or send an email to Eaglesway Ministries at gmail.com or call 304-485-6589. Until next time, think of Isaiah chapter 40, verses 29 through 31. It gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.