Depression is a state of mind in which a person has feelings of sadness, helplessness, negative thoughts, guilt, and other feelings that usually last longer than the average mood that results from experiencing the ups and downs that life brings. Bouts with depression can last for weeks, months, and even years. People exhibit depression through a lack of interest in things that would normally motivate them to action, a lack of attention and/or production on and off of the job and at home, as well as in other areas of life where the same people would normally thrive. Sometimes physical affects are the results of depression. Things such as weight loss, achiness, and other symptoms that are unexplainable to physicians are often attributed to depression.
It is estimated that 6.7 percent of Americans who are over the age of 18 suffer at some point from depression in any given year.[1]
Christians are not immune to depression or its affects. Pastors and Christian counselors often meet people who face depression for a variety of reasons, up to and including sin. Inside of the Christian circle there are many different views and methods on handling depression. Some view depression as an illness, and say that it is something that cannot be controlled by the person who is experiencing it. Others say that depression is always the result of some type of sin guilt, and that the person who experiencing depression has a need in one way or another to release this sin and ask for forgiveness. Even as it relates to hardship or things that are out of the counselee’s control, proponents of this view say that the depressed person did or does not trust God and reacted to the problem in a sinful way, and therefore is depressed because of their failure to handle things in a Godly way. Christians who have this view for the most part are not attempting to be harsh, but in most cases are