Talk Out Depression

When major depression is diagnosed, one recommendation is psychotherapy​—or “talk therapy.” Since a depressed person usually has greatly disturbed ideas, many have been aided by their talking to a therapist. Such professionals may include psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and others with specialized training. However, some have found help by talking with a lovingly concerned minister.a

Armand DiMele, director of the Center for Psychotherapy, observes: “The depressed person is protecting himself by shutting down his mind and body and not allowing any stimulation. For example, when someone suffers a loss such as a death, he may go into a depression rather than face the loss.” The job of the counselor is to help the sufferer to face the feelings and anxiety that come from such a loss. DiMele continues: “If the therapist sitting with him can really nurture him through and tell him what to anticipate in body sensations, then the person gradually realizes he can cope with the emotion, and the depression lifts.”

Submerged feelings, such as anger, resentment and guilt, have often bred depression. For instance, a psychologist employed by the New York State Mental Health Department treated a 58-year-old woman suffering from severe depression. She felt that God had abandoned her and that everyone was talking against her. As this expert of 20 years’ experience began to talk with her in a kindly way each week, he noticed that in discussions about her family she never mentioned her mother, with whom she was now living. He probed. In time she revealed that she felt that her mother, by her neglect, was responsible for her beloved father’s recent death. Gradually the counselor helped her to overcome this resentment, and her depression melted away.

Since guilt is often a major symptom of depression, psychologists will endeavor to eliminate it along with the patient’s feelings of worthlessness. One woman became severely depressed when her child turned rebellious. “I was never really a proper mother, was I?” she cried to the psychiatrist. “That’s why she’s gone wrong.” The doctor helped her to see all the good she had done for the child. The guilt then vanished​—and so did her depression.

However, the treatment of most cases is unsuccessful, according to Dr. Ronald Fieve. He reports in his book Moodswing​—The Third Revolution in Psychiatry that not infrequently, after weeks, months and years of working with a moderate or severe depressive, helping him to analyze his behavior, “very little happened.”

There is also a danger here for persons who are endeavoring to live by high moral standards. Some therapists go too far, justifying attitudes that the Bible disapproves. This is done to alleviate the patient’s guilt. True, a person should neither be overwhelmed with guilt nor feel “condemned by God” if improper feelings enter his mind. Yet, rather than reasoning that such erroneous thoughts are not wrong, as some therapists would say, those who highly value the Bible’s counsel prefer to correct such ideas or dismiss them. So they have to weigh seriously (or have help to weigh) counsel offered by a therapist. Potential problems may be avoided if the patient, or a companion, explains to the therapist the importance of the patient’s religious beliefs.​—Gal. 5:16, 19-21; Jas. 1:14, 15.

Authorities in the field differ as to intensive psychotherapy’s effectiveness. One of the reasons for this is that many doctors feel that the chemical imbalance present in severe moodswings cannot always be corrected by psychotherapy.

It is recognized, too, that within each field of treatment there is often a wide range of practitioners. For instance, in psychotherapy 130 different approaches are reported.