DEPRESSION: The effectiveness of Biblical counselling (Extract from a thesis)
By Mr. Pelesituo Zhale
The significance of the Study
In today’s generation, depression has become a common topic even within Church community . We hear about it everywhere, yet we see the Church vague attitude toward this and most of the time it is considered a secular approach. Also, many pastors and Church leaders are not trained in this field and are ill equipped to effectively help those in suffering, which often results in making them go seek elsewhere, away from the biblical perspective which is of great concern. The multiple approaches and extravagant for diagnosis and treatment for depression makes this even more complicated and difficult for the believers to avail the right diagnosis and treatment.1 Therefore, this topic become a significant study as it will help a person struggling from depression as well as a consultant to find a better solution in the light of biblical truth, where they can find comfort and be filled with hopes once again knowing that God is with them and has given the best solution for every problem in the Bible.
There are numerous Bible passages that talks about the causes and cures of depression . And the word of God plays an important role in treating a person with depression . The Bible may not have mentioned it specifically, yet, it has frequently described people who manifested such symptoms. For example, Moses (Numbers 11:14); Hannah (1 Samuel 1:7, 16); Jeremiah (Jer. 20:14 – 18); Elijah (1 Kings 19:1- 18); Job (Job 6:2 – 3, 14; 7:11), the Psalmists (Psalms 42:1 – 3, 9; 88), etc.2
In the present time, even within India, there are many who are suffering from depression. Globally, the total number of people suffering from depression was estimated to exceed 300 million in 2015, accounting for 4.3% of the global population. According to the National Mental Health Survey 2015-16, nearly 15% of Indian adults require active intervention for one or more mental health problems, and one in every twenty Indians suffers from depression. It is estimated that over 258 000 suicides occurred in India in 2012, with the age group 15-49 years being the most affected. Depression is the leading cause of global disability. At its worst, depression also led to suicide; each year, over 800,000 people commit suicide. It is the second leading cause of death in people aged 15 to 29.3
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), India has the highest number of depressed people in the world. This means that one out of every three people in India suffers from depression. It is estimated that 300 million people worldwide suffer from depression and have suicidal thoughts at some point in their lives . Statistics also show that 18% of people who commit suicide have previously failed suicide attempts. According to the World Bank, depression will place a greater burden on nations over the next ten years than any other disease.
According to the study "The Burden of Mental Disorders Across the States of India: The Global Burden of Disease Study 1990 - 2017," published in The Lancet Psychiatry on December 20,2019, 197.3 million people in India suffered from various mental disorders in 2017,accounting for one in seven or 14.3 percent of the country’s population.
And this is gradually but steadily affecting the youth. In India, one out of every seven people aged 15 to 24 is depressed or has little interest in doing anything.4 As seen from the report given above, there are huge numbers of people even within India who are suffering from depression, and the number is and will increase more in the days to come if awareness and effective measures are e not being taken to deal with it, which is of high concern. So, in this paper will try to understand what are some of the major common causes of depression. And the effectiveness of biblical counseling in treating a person with depression, and how can it be treated through a biblical approach? This paper will help people to understand and deal with depression better in the light of biblical truth.
Causes of depression:
From research studies, we found that there are numerous causes that lead to depression, such as life events: deaths, divorces, loss of job or career, abuse, etc. The unbalanced lifestyle, where on the one hand, working too much and spending too much and, on the other hand, exercising, resting, and sleep too less. Sickness and sin also leads to depression, though it does not imply that one’s sin causes all depression. Sinful thinking, attitude, behavior, turning away from God or God’s word, unbelief, etc. are some examples of possible sinful causes. And depression also has spiritual consequences, when God sends trials, a time people become depressed, we have seen of such incidents in the Bible too. And because of depression, many precious lives have also been lost through committing suicide, which is of high concern. And so understanding the causes and symptoms of this, I believe would be a first step towards helping a person going through depression.
Christian Approach to Depression
Depressed people are often passive, nonverbal, unmotivated, pessimistic, and have a resigned "what's the point?" attitude. Because of this, the counselor must be extremely sensitive. He or She must communicate verbally, taking a more active role than she might with other counselees. Your goal as a counselor is to engage the person in conversation with you. It can help to provide optimistic reassurance, as long as you are not unrealistic, insincere, or overly sentimental. Sharing facts about how depression affects people, patiently encouraging counselees to talk (yet not forcing them to talk), asking questions, giving periodic compliments, and sharing Scripture without preaching can all be beneficial. Avoid confrontation, protracted probing questions, or demands for action, especially at first. These techniques frequently increase anxiety, which can lead to feelings of discouragement and pessimism.
22 One should pay close attention as the counselee discusses his or her depression. Look for signs of anger, hurt, negative thinking, low self-esteem, and guilt, which you may want to discuss later. Encourage counselees to discuss any troubling life situations. Avoid "taking sides," but instead try to be understanding and accepting of others' emotions. Keep an eye out for discussion of losses, failures, rejection, and various other incidents that may have triggered the current depression.
23 People should seek medical attention when they have medical issues. If someone had a broken leg, an unresponsive kidney, a cavity in their tooth, or any other physical ailment, we would send them to the doctor. And it's true that some types of depression do in fact have physical causes that call for medical attention. D. Martyn Lyod-Jones, who is best recognized for his dynamic expository preaching style, actually has medical training. He emphasized that rather than having spiritual reasons, depression and other types of the mental disease frequently have physical ones. As examples of medical conditions that can result in dementia or depression, Lyod-Jones suggests pernicious anemia, arteriosclerosis, porphyria, and even gout. It is quite acceptable and even recommended for the counselor to encourage the client experiencing such symptoms to seek medical guidance.
24 Some would argue that depression is an illness that must be treated as such. According to proponents, no matter how well or how much you adhere to Christian principles, you cannot protect yourself from clinical depression. They believe that running away from sin is not the solution to clinical depression. People who hold this viewpoint look for biblical references to back up their points of view. While depression is not mentioned in the Bible, it is said that people such as Elijah were probably depressed. According to Gary Collins, Elijah witnessed God's mighty power at work on Mount Carmel, but when Jezebel threatened to kill him, Elijah fled into the wilderness, where he became despondent. He wanted to die and would have died if it hadn't been for the treatment provided by God's angel. Collins goes on to say that depression isn't always caused by sin or a lack of faith. He claims that the counselor's job is to figure out which of several possible causes is causing the counselee's depression.
25 Much of what a counselor deals with are addressed in the Bible. It also provides a foundation for understanding every critical issue that counselors face. To argue for biblical authority in the field of counseling means that (1) we must approach the Bible with expectancy and submission, and (2) while we may regard psychological ideas as stimulating and catalytic, we must never regard them as authoritative. Of course, the actual data from psychology research cannot be ignored. We must confront whatever we see and then turn to Scripture to understand why the data exists and what we should do in response to what we see. However, in all cases, the instruction of Scripture must be final.
26 God’s moral purpose in giving us the Scriptures is to graciously point out our plight, inform us of His solution, and instruct us on how to accept that solution. In a nutshell, the Bible teaches us how to find life. And that is what counseling is all about: assisting people who are experiencing problems that are robbing them of life to overcome those problems and live their lives as they were intended to live. The uncorrupted revelation of the Bible contrasts with the flaws of groaning and cursed nature. Whatever the Bible instructs us to do, we can be confident that we are on the right track because the Bible is completely moral in its teaching. Nature, on the other hand, is not. The confidence gained from the biblical study thus deserves more of our confidence than ideas gained from the natural study.
The Bible and the work of the Holy Spirit are sufficient to transform life's problems and can do so without the assistance of psychological theories or techniques. For almost two thousand years, the church was able to minister to those burdened by life's problems without the pseudoscience of psychotherapy. When the word of God, as ministered by the Holy Spirit, touches a person's spirit, it affects his thinking, feeling, and acting. Changing one's thoughts, emotions, and behavior in the absence of God's word and the work of the Holy Spirit will ultimately exalt man's wisdom over God's truth and Spirit. In every circumstance, we must respond biblically, prioritize the Lord, and to behave as He would want us to.
The wonderful truth is that as we devote all of our energies to becoming whom Christ wants us to be, He fills us with unspeakable joy and peace that far exceeds what the world has to offer. The Bible, on the other hand, teaches that if we abide in truth obediently to become more like God, the by-product will be our eventual happiness. However, happiness is neither the goal of the Christian life nor the goal of Christian counseling. Trying to find happiness is similar to trying to sleep. It will never come if you try to grasp it consciously and zealously.
Biblical Counseling to Depression
The biblical counseling movement is founded on the belief that God inspired the Scriptures in such a way that they are truly sufficient for the types of problems that counselees reveal in counseling. ―Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path‖ (Psalm 119:105 NKJV). God intends for his Word to illuminate our path. He intends to assist us when we face serious difficulties. If God's Word is only light on our dark path when the problems are minor, then his Word isn't worth much. God intended for us to have light to guide us through our problems, big and small. The Bible was given by God to provide compassionate and tangible care to those people who are depressed, anxious, in conflict, and so on. Biblical counselors do not believe God intended for his church to receive the Bible only to have to wait 1,900 years for real help to arrive with the advent of modern psychology.
The Word of God provides living, practical, and profound assistance that makes sense to people to understand their problems and points to the power of the living Christ to bring about change. When biblical counselors use the Word of God, they are not operating in a vacuum, but rather provide the kind of relevant, caring, and practical wisdom that can be found nowhere else.
The counselor must pray for himself and his counselees, asking God to use His Word as it is ministered in the counseling sessions, requesting wisdom for himself in understanding, and application of the Scriptures, gathering and analyzing data according to biblical norms, and seeking God's help in preparing the counselee's heart for the sowing of the scriptural seed. Prior to the next counseling session, the counselor will want to pray specifically for each counselee, mentioning specifically those issues that stand out in his notes included in the counselee's file. Among other things, the counselor will discover that his counseling notes can be extremely useful guides for private intercessory prayer. Counselors should identify complicating issues and assign the counselee to work on dealing with them in God's way. This should (at the very least) start to lift the depression and reverse the downward spiral. He should investigate all factors (incidents, etc.) and/or life pattern(s) that may have contributed to the sinful reaction to the initial problem, and then urge and assist the counselee in taking biblical action in the power of the Spirit to put off/put on these patterns with biblical ones, thereby ensuring against future failure due to the same patterns. The counselor must clearly explain to the counselee the dynamics of depression and lay out a plan to combat the sinful tendencies of the human heart that would surrender to feelings rather than pursue Christian responsibility.
The counselor must bring the counselee to repentance through the effective use of God's Word. This may be easier to accomplish when he is depressed (or more realistic). Excesses of elation and euphoria might need to be exposed for what they are—unscriptural behavior in the face of a serious problem. If the counselor takes the fact that the elation is uncalled for seriously and searches for and pulls hard on the basic thread of despair and depression that always seems to protrude even in the most euphoric moments, he will soon solve the problem. Because the elation is artificial, the counselor must remove it in order to assist the counselee in dealing with the fundamental issue of depression in a biblical manner.
The counselor can now start working with the counselee as he would with any other depressed person after meeting him when he is in a state of despair or after assisting him in putting off the erroneous or contrived elation. One further factor important to mention. It is crucial to explain everything in detail and support the counselee in learning how to approach problems with biblical sobriety and reserve in order to prevent the depression-elation-depression pattern. Before being dismissed from counseling the counselee must show that, by God's grace, he or she has learned not only how to find it in resolving issues that contributed to depression, but also that he or she is able to apply it to new issues in life. The biblical centre must be clearly laid out.
Taking away a depressed person's hope is always dangerous because it gives him reason to despair, even to the point of suicide. Instead, if the magnitude of his problem is acknowledged (rather than minimised), but God is presented as capable of handling even such a difficult problem as this, the counselee is more likely to believe that the counselor can offer a reliable basis for hope. Despair can also be dispelled by assuring the counselee that, despite the gravity of the problem,
God has a solution. When God rejected Cain’s sacrifice, he made matters worse by responding inappropriately to the rejection (he become angry and depressed, and his face "fallen"). God noticed the depression and anger and indicated that this was an incorrect response. Instead, God advises do right and you will feel right (Genesis 4:3-7). Then in verse 7, God warned against failing to repent and make the proper sacrifice. You will commit greater sin if you keep adding to the sin by responding in this way to the situation. Only by overcoming the sinful pattern that is developing through repentance and subsequent behavior change, you can rule over sin. Of course, what follows from these statements demonstrates that Cain disregarded God's admonition and fell into greater sin as God had predicted he would: the downward cycle resulted in the murder of Abel. Cain's depressed expression contained elements of nursing his resentment, self-pity, and anger, all of which God strongly warned Cain against.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, we have various approaches to depression. The psychiatrists used antidepressants, such as drug therapy which includes Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Tricyclic Antidepressants, MAO Inhibitors, etc. And psychologists often combine these with Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Interpersonal therapy (IPT), etc. However, it is evident that these also have many side effects, and these secular approaches are mostly for a short-term cure. Whereas for Biblical Counseling, the authority lies in the Scripture and they deal with all these issues based on the scripture, applying the truth of God’s word which have the power to change lives. And no matter how severe the depression could be, God has the solution to all these, for which one fully rely on God for a complete change.
Discussion on Findings
The main purpose of the study is to find how effective biblical counseling is in treating a person with depression and also find some of the main causes that leads to depression. So, from the findings we see that majority of the counselors also strongly agree that Bible contains all of the answers to life’s problems and so it can be used to counsel a person with depression, and also there is a Biblical solution to all kinds of Depression that human face.
God has provided us with everything we require for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Scripture clearly states that it contains all of the principles and practical insights required for understanding people and their problems. Apart from the question of whether it is possible to integrate man's ideas with the truths of God's Word, there is also the question of whether it is necessary. Psalms 19:7-11 makes numerous statements regarding the Bible that no one would ever make about any man's ideas. In this text, assertions are made that place the Bible in a class of its own—statements that unequivocally demonstrate the Bible's sufficiency and superiority to any of man's theories.1
Prayer is an important component while counseling depression, which almost all the participants also strongly agree to it. The counselor should primarily prepare for counselling by praying for himself and his client, relying fully on God’s power that only He can bring about true changes. Any counseling that is not based on the belief that God's power transforms counselees is essentially non-Christian. Prayer, then, must take center stage, because both the counselor and the counselee must ask for and rely on God's assistance. Obviously, prayer is involved. Humanistic counseling of various kinds (whether an avowedly pagan system or humanism in a Christian wrapper) demonstrates its fundamental weakness most clearly at this point—the absence of prayer shows that a counseling system is man-centered (humanistic), regardless of its label, when in practice counselors fail to call on God and rely on human wisdom, knowledge and strength to achieve its goals and objectives. From the data, it is evident that, although some counselors are of the opinion that, biblical counseling is effective only for those who are Christian. Most of them also disagree with it. For the majority, biblical counseling seems to be effective even though the clients are non-Christians.
to different denominations. And counseling is typically simpler when both the counselor
and the client are believers. In some ways, it is therefore simple to understand the man
who was determined to "get each person saved" before counseling could begin and who
refused to counsel nonbelievers. There are still reasons to doubt his approach. Jesus
assisted nonbelievers. The Bible does not tell us to restrict our help to Christians only.
The majority of experienced Christian counselors do not restrict their helping to the
believers.
different faith going through depression. We may not be able to apply the principles
exactly how we deal with the believers, however, we can begin by sharing the gospel
with them, sharing what Christ has done for us, etc. And giving them the hope that we
have in Christ. Though it may be challenging at first, yet, gradually I believe it will start
making sense to them, and our counselling will also become more effective.
From the finding, we also see that broken family, sexual abuse, sickness, is
amongst the major causes that leads to depression.
Living in a family where your parents are intolerant of one another can be a
disaster. It is not an easy journey without the love that a family should have. It can be
upsetting not only for the couple, but also for their children. According to recent studies
and research, children who grow up in a broken family are more vulnerable to
depression and anxiety.5
family problems, being raised up from a broken family from their early childhood days,
witnessing their parents getting divorce, for some, alcoholic father abusing wife
verbally and physically, for some, being raised up by their step father or mother and did
not receive proper care and love, and for many other reasons that greatly affect them
even in their later life.
abuse. Many people also face this in their life, especially the women, we hear about it
every now and then from the NewsChannel, television, and even within our localities.
With the increase in advance technology, more people are prone to pornography and
stuff, especially most of the youngster are also addicted to pornography and sex, which
has negatively impacted their lives, also the lives of others. For all these reasons sexual
abuse is also increasing, and there may be many people who are sexually abuse, yet are
afraid or insecure to share with others, because various reasons, and because of this they
are traumatise for a long period of time and become depressed.
Incest and other forms of sexual abuse can result in what is known as a postsexual-
abuse-syndrome, which is characterised by anxiety, sleep disturbances, sexual
dysfunction, anger, substance addiction, fear, and depression. Many abuse experiences
result in problems later in life, particularly when the abuse occurred when the victims
were young.
cannot be completely cured, though some illnesses can be controlled or managed
through lifestyle changes (diet and exercise) and certain medications. Diabetes, heart
disease, kidney disease, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis are all examples of chronic
illnesses. Many people suffering from these illnesses develop depression. In fact,
depression is one of the most common chronic illness complications. It is estimated that
up to one-third of people with serious medical conditions have depression symptoms.7
In the case of chronic illness as mentioned above, the biblical counselors would
also not disregard medication for such illness. However, the main problems and the
arguments lies in taking anti-depression pills, which the other secular approached used
in treating depression. Well, the demerits of these pills are that, it has lots of side
effects, not only that, these pills are mostly for temporary cure, and one’s people started to take all these, there is high chances that they continue to rely on these alone, rather
than relying on God.
CONCLUSION
Evangelical Theological Seminary
Asian Christian Academy, Tamil Nadu
Lecturer
Grace Theological college, Mizoram
 By Mr. Pelesituo Zhale){kind=link}