Do fundies ever get depressed?

[Want More Babies]

I learned that only a small percentage of my total problems were because of real innocent suffering or the results of simply living in a sin cursed world. Living through the physical effects of my sinful thinking, desiring, and acting was actually what led to my depression more than any physical cause. The majority of the problems I faced were the direct results of my choices, and most of my choices were self-protectionary, self-centered, and fearful.

This quote comes from an article from someone who was suffering with PPD after the birth of her baby who spent several months in the NICU. She is a biblical counselor to boot. faithlafayette.org/resources/info/how_postpartum_depression_changed_my_life_forever

Depression is sin to fundies and therefor is something that is covered up and hid. ids.org/pdf/applied/depression.pdf

And of course the blog who exists to offer Biblical Counseling to women has many articles on depression on it. Here is one on how to cure it. bc4women.blogspot.com/2010/02/whats-cure-for-depression.html

[wild little fox]

I find the sin/sacrifice dynamic to be abusive. We are seen as being full of sin that God cannot look at us. Jesus had to present a blood sacrifice for us to be presentable. How can a god love you unconditionally when you are sin full crap to begin with? My fundie aunt reminds me often why I left. She said to me that there is no good in us. the last family gathering she reminded me about Moses being disobedient so he was not allowed in the Promised Land.

I do so much better now. Instead of working on my sins I work on accepting myself as I am. It is a much more healthy way to be.

Carrying around all the guilt and shame is so damaging!!

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Not only are people all so full of sin that they are lower than worms and not deserving of God's Grace, but...

...according to some denominations (ex: Calvinists with predestination), not everyone is offered grace to begin with, and so Jesus didn't die for all, he died only for the Elect. Now, as a heathen I don't claim to know details, but this always confused me. If God chose the Elect before time, etc, and knows who is chosen at birth, then it's completely random, and acts don't matter, but faith also doesn't matter.

So reading around about this (just on people's blogs, etc) I've seen the explanation repeated that no one knows if they're chosen or not. You don't know if you're Elect, and believing fervently won't affect it, BUT!!!!! apparently believing fervently and having a true pure faith and just naturally believing seriously in all of it is a SIGN that you are in fact Elect. God only gives ears to hear the message to those whom he first Elected, basically.

That, to me, seems like a one way street directly to the specific hell of depression IF you end up being someone who just can't buy into the whole thing and lacks faith, possibly involving actual depression, but haven't just said "eff this" to the whole deal. I mean, you just can't get into it, and yet the bit of belief you do have (due to how you're raised) says that's a sign that not only are you flawed, but also GOD hates you too, you're not Elect, and so you're going to hell no matter what. You're gonna burn forever.

How can that possibly be healthy?

[Lady]

They do get depressed but it isn't expressed. I was told once showing depression meant that you didn't have faith in God among other things. A lot of them are probably afraid to express their emotions for fear of rejection or scorn.

I was told that too. I left that church.

[FakePigtails]

It's not just the fundies:

3.bp.blogspot.com/-kARpxouSyKw/TmfG6aWhEvI/AAAAAAAAFKk/r5WFE8x6lYA/s1600/IMG_1326.JPG

At least a few people are disputing it.

[flyawaystray]

Religion can be really screwed up at times, and I'm Christian. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that if you're not perfect or whatever, it's sinful. I was never taught that, thankfully.

[Mela99]

I'm a practicing Catholic and I am HAPPILY using my meds every day. Far as I'm concerned, they're a gift from God. I had social anxiety disorder to the point that I didn't leave the house for five years. Sorry, but begging God to help didn't do squat - being brave enough to go out the door and fill the prescription did.

[Full enough quiver]

I don't get why a person couldn't pray to god to help them cope with their mental health issues, while helping themselves with therapy or meds. I've never had depression, but I do have PTSD, and therapy and meds didnt seem to help. I've learned that, while the ptsd may never go away, there are ways to cope with it. Helping others gets me out of my own head better than any therapist ever has. Everyone is different, and for some, prayer and good works could be the answer, for others, therapy, or medication. The stigma surrounding mental illness helps no one. Churches could really be making more of an effort to help those with mental health problems, instead of shaming them for it.

[louisa05]

A couple of things--please don't lump the Catholic church into this discussion of churches telling people to pray away mental illness. I know one priest who has been treated for depression and uses antidepressants and has openly acknowledged it from the pulpit. I know a second who has been treated for anxiety disorder and initially sought treatment at the urging of his bishop. My own priest recently told me in a casual conversation about some family issues of mine that if I need someone to talk to I should not be afraid of seeking therapy. If a priest has told any of you, in recent times, to just pray or go to church more, he was out of touch with the mainstream of the church.

Second thing...I taught at a fundy lite "interdenominational" Christian school. Eating disorders were absolutely rampant there. We regularly smelled vomit, heard gagging noises and found laxative packages in the girls bathroom on the high school floor. The principal used to brag that all the girls were thin and beautiful and a "glow that comes from loving Jesus". Several of us were certain that it was the glow of bulimia. I literally had three female students of average weight and only one who was overweight in six years of teaching there. The rest were extremely and unnaturally thin and many had signs of depression as well. A teacher there, the last year I taught there, told the staff that she was newly being treated for bipolar disorder. She was asked to leave. Mental health issues certainly exist in these communities but they are swept under the rug and if you acknowledge them, you will be pushed out.

[oil]

In the circles I travelled in it was selfishness and a sin. You were to quit focusing yourself and how you feel and focus on Jesus and serving the church. People brave enough to go to a doctor and take the meds they were prescribed were outcasts.

From reading so much about them, I get to the same idea like you. They get depressed, maybe more than other people since they are so repressed, but admitting they are depressed is like admitting you don't have enough Jesus/G-d in the life. So sad. They ignore the psychology and physiology that we are made of. This makes me so sad for them, and it makes me want to shake them and slap them to force them to show their true feelings. I believe G-d made us to be of flesh, blood and spirit, not just spirit. These ones conduct as if they are only pure spirit and ignore the rest. That is not normal!

Ans stepford wives, yes, I know this movie, yes it is them, the men and the women. Un healthy and sad.

[whatsthesitch]

A couple of things--please don't lump the Catholic church into this discussion of churches telling people to pray away mental illness. I know one priest who has been treated for depression and uses antidepressants and has openly acknowledged it from the pulpit. I know a second who has been treated for anxiety disorder and initially sought treatment at the urging of his bishop. My own priest recently told me in a casual conversation about some family issues of mine that if I need someone to talk to I should not be afraid of seeking therapy. If a priest has told any of you, in recent times, to just pray or go to church more, he was out of touch with the mainstream of the church.

Of course not, attitudes toward mental health are varied between Christians and people in general. I'm also bipolar II, have panic disorder and ASD. I go to a church which is very supportive, but I suppose it helps that there are a lot of doctors in the congregation. Anyway, the church I went to before that was the total opposite. They believed that Christians should feel JOY all the time and if you were depressed, well that means no salvation for you. The worst part was that one of the pastor's sons had what I believe was untreated bipolar I. He was desperately unhappy, couldn't hold a job and felt isolated from everyone around him. His friends were so conflicted because they were being taught that he was just a bad Christian and all he needed was an attitude change yet their friend was suffering in front of them and they felt like something should be done

That kid killed himself last year. I was long gone but I hear it destroyed the congregation. I'm surprised we don't hear more about fundie suicides honestly

[flyawaystray]

I don't know how true this is, but I'm under the impression that BP I is more severe than BP II because the mania is stronger, and that people with BP I end up committing suicide more often than BP II people. It's really sad, and I struggle on and day to day basis, even with meds and therapy. It's a wretched thing to live with, and I cannot imagine dealing with Bipolar disorder without medication. I was such an angry, angry person before I got diagnosed and I will never, ever go back to the way I was. I take my meds every single day and have never skipped a dose, not one.

[notacleverpony]

On a lighter note, this could be the Fundie Depression Suppression theme song (if not for some questionable lyrics):

NSFW

6k6_bIacgnM

[lizzielouwho]

While reading this thread all I could think about was Andrea Yates. PPD is a very real thing. I can only imagine it would be made worse in a lifestyle where a woman can not even let on that she is not feeling normal. And she has to further pretend that she is happy all of the time. There would be no one around her to see the warning signs either. I fear for these women and children.

As I was typing this I was seeing Kelly Bradrick in my head. There was a picture of her about a year ago standing on the deck of a house. The look on her face and in her eyes is one of absolute brokenness.

[nokidsmom]

As I was typing this I was seeing Kelly Bradrick in my head. There was a picture of her about a year ago standing on the deck of a house. The look on her face and in her eyes is one of absolute brokenness.

Oh yes, I remember that picture and it really showed her misery.

There was another pic taken with her family on the beach; she looked pretty miserable in it too.

[iheartchacos]

During my time in a fundie (light?) church...I was allowed to go to a counselor from our church. The view was: it's a sin to be depressed because its believing that God did not make you just the way you wanted and was pretty much a slap in his face. My therapy? Reading bible verses about how I was fearfully and wonderfully made. Praise Yahweh :)

[JenXer]

Another practicing Catholic here who was told, in the confessional, that it might be a good idea to see a doctor to be treated (with meds) for depression. I have never heard anything about depression or other mental illnesses being sinful.

Now, I did have one friend with PPD who went to her Catholic ob/gyn and he said, "Of course you're depressed. We live in a fallen world and being a mother in these particular times is extremely challenging.".

Sooo... not exactly a "You're weak" or "You're sinful" but still not exactly helpful. He did not seem to recognize PPD as a legitimate brain chemistry issue, so he didn't prescribe any meds for her. I don't think she's ever completely recovered.

[danvillebelle]

I think depression is probably rampant among fundie circles.

I've never belonged to a fundie denomination, but for years when I bought into the VF/Maxhell kind of crap, I would think if I could just do X (use this curriculum successfully, dress this way, be more content at home, blah blah blah) that I'd feel better. I had racing thoughts all the time, severe social anxiety (I couldn't even bring myself to talk on the phone to anyone but family), I was self-medicating with alcohol when things got too stressful. When I tried to eliminate the alcohol, I turned to cutting. I spiraled down to the point that my spiritual advisor (a seriously wonderful Orthodox priest) said "look, I have helped you all I can spiritually...you need medical help, go to the ER, NOW." I spent a week in a psych hospital and was diagnosed with severe depression, anxiety disorder, and then later BPD by my therapist. I have been on meds and in therapy for over a year now and I'm a different person. I had a ton of nasty stuff from my past that I'd buried so deep I hardly knew it was there. If I had kept trying to fix it myself and pray it away, I'd probably be dead by now.

I think Sarah Maxwell looks clinically depressed and I actually worry for her safety. I think she's a suicide waiting to happen, especially if she never marries.