Depression - Anabaptist Disabilities Network

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Anabaptist Disabilities Network
PO Box 959
Goshen, IN 46527-0959
Phone: 574-535-7053
Ph/Fax: 877-214-9838

Depression

We are soliciting stories from people who have lived with depression. If you have a story you are willing to share, please contact , ADNet Program Associate. We would love to hear from you! You may also be interested in these resources: mental health topics, suicide, mental health links.

"Surviving Depression"

Laughing woman is holding a goblet with a silly face and wild hair stuck on it

ADNet Program Associate Christine Guth shares stories from her experiences with depression in the March 2008 issue of Connections. She finds room for laughter once again -- here at the creation of "Goblet Guy" at a recent conference.

Overcoming Stigma
Ruth Detweiler tells about her experiences with the stigma of depression in the August 2005 issue of ADNotes. Related articles by Ruth Detweiler include My Journey with Depression and Dandelions and Stigma.

See also ADNet's pages on Suicide and Mental Illness.

Depression... Passing Mood or Disabling Illness?
    Every person experiences down days. It is unfortunate that we have only one word that we apply to those short-lived blue moods and to the disabling illness of clinical depression. When we have down days, by mental effort, exercise, a conversation with friends, a long hot bath, or other forms of self care, we can pull ourselves out of it. Spiritual practices such as prayer can be a significant resource in such times. The difficulty comes in distinguishing between those these mild, transient forms of discouragement and the disabling illness. There is no sharp line. One grades into the other.
    Because we can pull ourselves out of simple discouragement, or we experience God's care pulling us out, we think we should be able to apply the same strategies to the serious illness that resembles discouragement. But these are two very different phenomena, despite their superficial resemblance.
    Discouragement inevitably comes with the ups and downs of life. Clinical depression is a physical illness of the brain affecting both biochemistry and brain structure, a disease which usually responds to medical treatment. It too waxes and wanes with the ups and downs of life and can sometimes slowly improve without intervention. However, like the physical illnesses that affect other organs, it doesn't often get better from will power, or even faith, alone.
    God's good gifts to persons with clinical depression include psychiatric care, medication, and psychotherapy. When we accept such gifts we may be in a better position to appreciate the other good things God is doing in our life, and to share God's love with those around us. -- Christine Guth, ADNet Program Associate

    For more resources on depression, check out one of these websites:

A Relentless Hope: Surviving the Storm of Teen Depression by Gary E. Nelson (Cascade Books, 2007). Nelson offers to teens and their parents insights that he has learned from walking closely with his son through prolonged depression, and from counseling many struggling teens and their families.
See a review of this book by Christine Guth. this book from ADNet.
Watch an 8-minute video on teen depression by Gary Nelson.

Close to Home pamphlets
from
Faith & Life Resources, a division of Mennonite Publishing Network

Dealing with Depression

Dealing with Extreme Anxiety

Complete list of Close to Home topics

Some subjects are so close to home we don't like to talk about them. These pamphlets place hard-to-talk-about issues in light of the Bible, Christian faith, and congregational care.

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