outreach to my family in Christ

I'm sorry to hear that you have had some difficulties in dealing with depression. I have dealt with depression for many years myself. I believe that for me there are both physical aspects and spiritual aspects to depression. The only reason I say that is because when I treat only the physical aspects of my depression by taking medication to balance the neurotransmitters in my brain it seems like the medication alone is not enough to help me feel better. I also have to do things to take better care of myself like getting enough rest, eating a healthy diet and exercising, but even when I add those things to my daily routine it is often not enough to alleviate my depression. What seems to work best is a combination of taking care of myself physically and spiritually as well. The way I take care of myself spiritually is to attend church regularly, read my bible daily and pray periodically throughout the day. This approach in which I take care of both the physical and the spiritual seems to work best for me. I found this interesting podcast about the roots of depression that I thought you might be interested in: https://bit.ly/2PYvlmb I hope you feel better soon. I will be praying for you.

Sometimes it feels like both. For me it doesn't even matter. If I can help if with getting professional help, I will. But I will also treat the feelings of depression as lies. If depression tells me "there is no hope" or that "you're worthless", these kinds of things, no matter how hard they come and no matter how truthful it feels, I refuse to believe them. So in a way I battle depression with physiological things but also with spiritual things. Having hope in Christ is like leaning on an immovable, comforting rock. In fact my depression and insanity helped me to come to Christ, when I realized my hopelessness. I kind of had to surrender. When I felt most hopeless, I was entirely wrong, the greatest hope was near.

Depression can be many things. I guess each one knows their own. But I don't think I have to make a separation, I don't think I have to categorize my depression. Then again I'm better nowadays, and I can't really remember how I dealt with some things. But if I had thought of it as some mystery I have to solve, and where I have to be absolutely right about it, I would've just stressed myself out even more. But of course I know we try to understand things in order to do something about them.

All the best, friend, and Christ be with you.

i think that depression is usually both physical and spiritual. Medications can alleviate depression but unhealthy spiritual choices can still thwart mental health.

Faith in God's loving truth is essential to survive depression.