Categories
Best Five Journal Joy Notes Wisdom

Tips for Countering Depression

 

 

Contrary to popular opinion, the end of the year holidays are a very difficult time for many people.   Depression is often worse then.  Winter is coming on; other people seem almost obnoxiously happy and there are many social gatherings.  If one is not in the best mood or has experienced personal reverses or some serious losses and is grieving, the holidays can make the situation worse.  Here are some suggestions to help. 

 

  1. Get more exercise.   Perhaps this is a surprising first tip but actually exercise helps our bodies generate the right chemistry for joy.  It physically helps the body balance moods. Exercise also helps our sleep patterns.   http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression-and-exercise/art-20046495
  2. Practice giving thanks for little things.  When we are depressed we focus on the negative.  In wholesome contrast, the habit of thanksgiving helps us get a wider perspective on life and encourages us to appreciate what is good even amid our difficulties. 
  3. Avoid alcohol.  Alcoholic drinks are often consumed by those who are depressed to help them “forget their troubles.”    However, chemically alcohol depresses bodily functions and makes depression worse.   http://www.ulifeline.org/articles/460-alcohol-and-depression
  4. Get in touch with the losses, hurts and angry feelings in your heart.  Frequently depression has components related to grief and anger from circumstances in our lives, sometimes cumulative circumstances.   When we are depressed, we may not be dealing in a healthy way with these feelings.  It helps so much to be conscious of the roots of our sadness and then to talk it out with trusted and wise friends, counselors or pastors.  Hiding these feelings inside feeds our depression in unconscious ways.   Praying about these feelings also helps; think of prayer as talking out our feelings and circumstances with God.    
  5. Keep interacting with your friends and family. When we are depressed, we have a natural tendency to isolate ourselves, but this is not the healthiest thing for us to do.  Maintaining or even increasing our usual connections with family and friends will help us greatly in getting through our time of depression.  The warmth of friendship and love is healing for us even when it is hard to reciprocate.   True friends understand.
  6. Remember the character of God. He is a God of Hope and Encouragement (Romans 15:5, 13).   So drawing near to God helps immensely.  If it is hard to pray yourself, ask a Christian friend to pray with you.   Keep attending services, if at all possible.  Remember that God knows the hurts of your heart (Psalm 10:14).    When words don’t come, He hears your heart.
  7. Find some key Bible verses that speak to you. Write them on cards and place them where you will see them often or put them on your computer desktop.  They will help reshape your thinking.   Reading in the Psalms will help you find them.  Here are some suggestions to begin.  1 Peter 5:7; Matthew 11:28;  Psalm 23; Psalm 28:7; Psalm 46:1, 2; Psalm 55:22; Psalm 56:3; Hebrews 13:5, 6; 2 Corinthians 9:8; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Isaiah 40:29-31; Isaiah 46:4, Isaiah 57:15; Philippians 4:4-8;  and Psalm 103. 

Finally, it you don’t find yourself making progress, seek help.  It is a strong thing to do to recognize when we could use a little help and seek it.  Counselors, pastors and doctors are trained to help in sensitive ways.  Most everyone has times in their lives when they could benefit greatly from counsel.  

 

Categories
Journal News Commentary Wisdom

Tragedy in Oregon is Symptomatic

Mental health issues and guns do not mix
Mental health issues and guns do not mix

 

 

Name the heroes not the criminal

Our hearts are grieving for the families affected by the tragic shootings in Oregon.   Once again, the ordinary people who were there became extraordinary heroes.     On Facebook, one person nominated as the most courageous person in America the second person in that room who was asked by the shooter if they were a Christian and answered yes anyway.   I would like to know about that true martyr for our faith.   I also applaud the Army vet who charged the shooter.  I pray for Chris Mintz’s recovery from his wounds.   These are the names I want on my lips, not the name of the shooter.

 

But learn from situation

As unpleasant as the task may be, it is important for the prevention of further such incidents that we learn about the perpetrator.    Once again a person whose mental health was questionable had unwise access to guns and used them against innocent people in a place where he would not encounter armed resistance.  He wanted to achieve media notoriety.  I learn from the news of his hatred of Christianity.  I believe he was also from a single parent home, an additional risk factor.  In an eerie parallel to Sandy Hook, his mother was fascinated with guns.  His actions also indicate character issues, lack of respect for others, no compassion, and insensitivity to bloodshed and violence.

 

Mental health is a difficult issue

People will wring their hands and ask, “What can be done?”   Politicians will point to gun control.  Indeed, there is work to be done in the area of screening access to firearms for those whose mental health records are questionable.   But that is a very difficult agenda in a land where we cherish individual freedom.   Families cannot even get help for those whom they know are mentally ill because the sufferer hasn’t done anything illegal yet.   By the time they have it is too late either for them or for others.  Similarly, families and friends of Alzheimer victims are powerless until either the sufferer is hospitalized for other reasons or a caretaker is hospitalized for injuries, even though the ability to choose of their loved one has declined past the point of safety for all concerned.  The issue of mental health in America is much broader than just the gun control aspect.

 

Learning to value the valuable not the familiar

But almost no one will talk about the deeper issues involved here.  Why is a mentally ill person like this shooter thinking that it is more desirable to become infamous than to remain one of the crowd?  Might it be partly because we as a culture give too much adulation and credit to those who happen to appear regularly on television?    Who even knows the names of those who found movements of charity?    Who notices those who head up cancer research?    Teachers are more likely to be blamed for low scores than given credit for dealing with increasing numbers of special-needs students.  Our society does not know its real heroes!   It adores people whose faces simply appear in movies and on TV rather than sorting out those whose character and achievements truly deserve recognition.  There is something very wrong with how our culture rewards people based only on media exposure.

 

Media that considers its effect, not just its click numbers

I have been pleased with the effort of some news organizations to follow the lead of the Oregon community where the shooting happened and attempt to front page the names of victims and heroes while barely mentioning the perpetrator.   This is a wholesome trend because it considers the effects of the way the news is covered.  It counters the usual trend where media is driven by clicks, not by value.   To make a lasting difference, there will need to be leaders in media and government that desire to set a course for the moral uplift of America.   Negative portrayal of Christians in media today has to be contributing to the culture’s sad turn toward ungodliness and rejection of the Christian heritage of our country.

 

Needed: A resurgence of the fear of God

I have also noted before and repeat again that one thing that needs to change in our society in order for the culture of violence to change is this.  There needs to be a revival of the fear of God including teaching about the accounting that each person must give to God after they die.   People who kill others and then commit suicide think it is over.  Jesus clearly taught us that it is not over (John 5:28, 29)!  Our accountability for our actions has just begun.  We may have escaped earthly accountability but we cannot escape God’s judgment.  “We know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:30-31 NIV 2011).

 

Violent programming programs brains for violence

Finally, to change the violent climate of our country, we must stop loving violence in our entertainment.   The Bible warns that cultures that love violence will be dogged by it.   “Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you” (Ezek. 35:6 NIV). When children grow up watching hundreds of murders on television and committing virtual murders in video venues every day, why should we be surprised if some people on the margins whose ability to separate fiction and reality is impaired and whose ethical intelligence is very low commit real world mayhem?   Is it not probable that if violence had not been pre-programmed in by media habits, then their acting out would manifest entirely differently?

 

 

Categories
Journal News Commentary Wisdom

“Vitamin N” for children

I have long said that one of parents’ main jobs is teaching their children the meaning of “no.”   Here is a great article from the Hartford Courant in which the writer, John Rosemond, calls this kind of teaching for children “Vitamin N.”   Mr. Rosemond also mentions that far from dashing the happiness of children, the experience of  “Vitamin N” actually contributes to their long-term happiness.   On the other hand, the nonstop indulgence common today is producing increasingly depressed people who can’t get enough kicks to keep the party going.

http://digitaledition.courant.com/tribune/article_popover.aspx?guid=f610bf18-8790-4290-81cd-7657fa9fc571