Conversation with God: A Christian Experience of Depression

This book is about depression, which most people - if they think about it at all - consider to be a medical condition treatable with modern drugs, and the medical analogy that underpins this viewpoint compares the diabetic's pancreas with the depressive's brain. The pancreas and the brain are just different organs of the body where, in the one case (diabetes) there is a shortage of insulin, and in the other (depression) a shortage of a different set of chemicals called neurotransmitters. Fix the shortage and the problem disappears - simple isn't it! The problem is, however, compounded by the 'psychosis' that appears to be the end result of certain experiences of depression, and which can lead to a person 'hearing voices' - or worse, 'seeing voices.' Psychosis may be seen as just one side of a coin - the other side of which is mysticism - and surprisingly, 'seeing voices' is an entirely biblical experience (see chapter 12) , but it usually fails to be translated as such because it does not make sense to us. In our post-modern, Western, biomedical world-view 'seeing voices' simply 'does not compute.' Although of necessity this book is to some extent autobiographical, my intention in writing it has been to bring these other features of depression to the attention of Christians, features that appear to be a wasted resource in our walk of faith. To a large extent Christians 'buy into' the secular world-view in which depression is often misunderstood as something from which the afflicted person "can snap out of." Perhaps, instead of pressing depressives to "pull themselves together,"Christians should utilise them as a valuable resource in our corporate communication with God. But to do this raises serious questions concerning the current practices of our faith.