From Steven Owensby’s letter (“Your Views,” Feb. 4), it’s obvious that he has never suffered the devastating results of depression. Chronic depression and generalized anxiety disorder are bona fide neurologic diseases that stem from traumatic events, lack of serotonin in the brain, repeated stress, and a wide variety of other issues. This is science, not sin.
Yes, sometimes not trusting in God can result in feeling bad or in extreme worry. I appreciate the writer saying that “individuals who are depressed may have legitimate physical causes for such feelings.” However, his ideas that these “feelings” come from a lack of trust in God is not necessarily founded in fact.
As a longtime sufferer of depression and anxiety, and as a child of God and follower of Christ, I know from personal experience that depression is far more than just sin. I pray daily to trust in God each day. I pray daily that this day will be better than the next. There are days when my depression does not get the better of me. Then there are days when it just does, and I’m stuck and unable to accomplish what I need to get done that day.
I work in an environment where I have to be happy and have a smile on my face at all times. That doesn’t mean I don’t suffer from depression; this is not a choice for me. It’s a matter of fact – and how my life has been for the last 33 years. It’s not something I can just wish away. I can pray that God will ease the depression and anxiety, but my body can take over very easily. It’s a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute battle against giving in to the exhaustion, sadness and despair that accompany the depression and anxiety.
Even Paul battled with something that he described as a “thorn in his side.” Never does he reveal that thorn, but depression and anxiety can be like that thorn. We can pray for God to remove it, but as we well know, sometimes God says, “No.”
What do you think? Click here to send a letter to the editor addressing this or another subject.