The Blues

The vast array of problems associated with the human psyche will tax the most brilliant minds among men. From time immemorial, men of all societies and civilizations have struggled with solutions for mental and emotional maladies and devised methods of dealing with these with sketchy results at best. We mostly ignore the greatest source of solutions because we ignore the Creator of man and, in doing so, we ignore the instruction book that was written to educate men for dealing with all of the problems of life. God has given us everything that we need in the Word of the Living God.

The following are the most common sources of depression or what is sometimes known as 'The Blues' and in knowing them, we may be able to combat them in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.

LONELINESS

Loneliness often dominates the mental state of a person who is depressed. I can recall as a child having a feeling of loneliness so deep it was absolutely painful. Parents who suppress their children's communications deny them the luxury of being a viable person. As such, the child comes to believe that he has no reason to exist, to say nothing of a voice to express feelings. When the avenue of communication is blocked everything becomes a problem. Life becomes a series of fearful events instead of challenges that spur to action. This problem may escalate from simple psychological suppression to physical illness. In the same token, these resulting maladies are not restricted to children. They contribute to much of our adult illnesses because of anger, resentment, anxiety, rage and feelings of suppression.

Psychology and psychiatry are not exact sciences because we are hard pressed to understand the human brain and its very complex functions since counselors are limited to the information supplied by the one depressed. It would be a mistake to question your need for human company. We all need it. Even the introverts among us do.

REJECTION

Dependent people tend more to depression as they lack the self-confidence to stand alone or handle rejection. A person who has suffered a high degree of rejection in their formative years will experience a very low level of self esteem. Infant death rates in orphanages, particularly those in third world nations, are often high because of insufficient human contact and emotional neglect. We are very needy creatures and desperately need God's love and the love of each other to really exist as God has designed us to. Someone has said that the greatest need of every person on the face of the earth is the need to be accepted.

MOURNING

The loss of one's life companion, a father or mother, other close friend, or relative contributes to many a severe depression and sometimes even death. Thoughtless or uneducated friends or relatives tend to make comments that encourage suppression of grief instead of healing release. Suppressed grief is probably one of the more damaging of problems relating to depression. Our late president, Dwight Eisenhower, when he viewed the devastation in the German death camps, wept profusely when faced with the grizzly truth of what had happened there. Our Lord wept over Jerusalem and at the grave of Lazarus and other times. History records many great men who wept and grieved openly. Weeping and grieving are a necessary part of our maintaining a stable emotional state of mind and heart and should never be suppressed.

If there were to be one thing we could look at as being a central cause of problems related to depression and the myriad of life woes caused by it, it would be that of suppression of feelings. God instructs us to go to those who have offended us or to those whom we have offended and in a non offensive manner to express our hurt feelings in order to clear our conscience and maintain the relationship. To go to someone requires us to express a mature outlook on life and indicates a determination to be right with God and with men. We are to express our feelings to God first (I John 1:9) and then to men. We may not learn God's ways of maturity quickly because these are a matter of our growth in Christ and learning His ways. However, we can begin today and as we take new steps God will lead us in learning His ways and growing in Him.