Almost too late

“I stood there with a handful of pills ready to end my life…”
One of the most insidious aspects of emotional depression is the way our brains begin to process/interpret our reality.  Instead of being rational and objective our minds literally begin looking for a reason to validate how badly we feel. Everything is skewed.  A [...]

the Jesus prayer

Been talking to a lot of people about depression, anxiety, ptsd, etc. these days. One person was telling me about how when she’s stressing her breathing becomes faster and faster. Someone else has the opposite problem. When this person stresses they just stop breathing.
I told them about the ancient practice of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord [...]

Guilt and Depression and the brain

Research using fMRI (functional brain imaging) has positively linked guilt and depression.
“The brain region we have identified to be associated with proneness to guilt has been shown to be abnormally active in patients with severe depression in several previous studies, but until now its involvement in guilt had been unknown.”
more info: http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/08/26/brain-scans-show-depressions-link-to-guilt/2826.html

Depression Symptoms

Here’s a ton of material on what to look for when trying to figure out depression…
Signs & Symptoms: Collected
descriptions from NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), Mayo Clinic (WebMD quotes Mayo); DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Health Disorders, IV edition)
NIMH
What are the signs and symptoms of depression?
People with depressive illnesses do not [...]

Depression Quotes

Christian view of depression; responses from 5 different States.  The original question with the responses in the order received. The first response ignited a lot of discussion:
“Thinking about Christians and Depression… I have a gut level feeling that Christians tend to view the topic as taboo–maybe even believe that it’s a sin. What’re your [...]

Christians and Depression

Digging deeper into depression. Lots of discussion already on my facebook page–just search my name: Victor Schreffler.  Here’s some excerpts from the National Institutes for Mental Health (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml) that I thought were significant:
“Many people with a depressive illness never seek treatment. But the vast majority, even those with the most severe depression, can get better with treatment. [...]