Depression is a condition that affects the whole person: emotions, perceptions, thoughts, and physical health¹.  It is debilitating in nature, manifesting itself in cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physiological disturbances.  And, as with most mental disorders, its influence goes beyond the individual, thus creating a collective experience of suffering.  In other words, the individual does not suffer alone, despite predominant feelings of loneliness and isolation.

This condition is commonly described as a mood disorder characterized by profound sadness, lack of motivation, fear, and hopelessness.  It must, nonetheless, be differentiated from normal variations in mood, which are typically common emotional responses to daily problems and stressors.  We all experience sadness, and we all have days in which we feel unmotivated.  Fear and worry are common denominators in our modern society, and we all grapple with the uncertainties of our future.

Dr. J. David Franks very eloquently differentiates between normal variations in mood and depression. He describes suffering as a part of everyday life.  He emphasizes, however, that despite this suffering, the sun rises and we are given new opportunities.  Depression, on the other hand, is the obliteration of all light and of all reminiscence of light. By this, he refers to the loss of hope; the belief that the sun will not rise again.  Dr. Franks goes to the extent of comparing the experience of depression with Dante’s passage through hell².

Depression has been poetically related to experiences of pain, suffocation, anguish, and torment³.  It has also been described as indescribable, making it practically impossible to comprehend when looking from the outside in³.   This lack of understanding feeds the temptation of judging these descriptions as extreme and of criticizing people with depression as weak and their expressions of illness as exaggerated.

Looking from the outside in, it is difficult to understand how a person suffering from depression can be incapable of getting out of bed to participate in the most basic activities of daily life, such as eating, bathing, and interacting with family.  Even more difficult, is to understand how a person can overcome the primal instinct of self-preservation to contemplate, or participate in, the act of suicide.

The causes of this condition are undoubtedly complex and multilayered.  Biological, psychological, social, relational, and spiritual forces all come into play in the development and maintenance of this disorder.  Genetic predisposition, stress, and possibly even inflammation; adverse childhood experiences, trauma in all stages of life, and conflictual relationships; negative perceptions of self, the world, and the future, lack of meaning and purpose, and hopelessness… all these factors are involved in what we call “depression”.

Unfortunately, people with depression tend to suffer in silence.  They tend to carry the weight of their symptoms in the darkness and loneliness of anonymity.   This seems like a better alternative to being criticized and judged by those who don’t understand.  Maybe those with depression don’t understand either.  What is indescribable is also incomprehensible.

The truth is that a person suffering from cancer, for example, has no problem in sharing it with the world, and the world has no problem in providing comfort and support. We should be grateful for this, for cancer is a horrible disease and its treatment sometimes seems worse that the illness itself.  However, a person with cancer is not held responsible or blamed for suffering this illness.  Yet, people with depression are constantly taunted as if depression was a choice or a consequence.

Phrases such as “think positive and everything will be ok”, “get up, don’t you love your family?”, or “it’s all in your head” are commonly used.  People with depression are also labeled as cowardly, weak, or as lacking faith. Some are told that if they prayed more often, they would feel better.  Yes, prayer helps!  But depression is not the result of lack of prayer, nor is it the consequence of a weak character or of moral flaws.

All these misunderstandings must be addressed.  All these prejudices and stereotypes must be overcome.  People with depression cannot continue living in the shadows.  Their silence must be broken and their anonymity exposed.

In the words of St. John Paull II, those who care for people with depression must help them “to discover their self-esteem, confidence in their own abilities, interest in the future, the desire to live”.  As a society, we must “stretch out a hand to the sick, to make them perceive the tenderness of God, to integrate them into a community of faith and life in which they can feel accepted, understood, supported, respected; in a word, in which they can love and be loved”⁴.

We must increase our willingness to understand.  Understanding is the first step towards eliminating the social stigma that weighs heavily on those who suffer depression, or any other mental disorder for that matter.   The ability to understand is one characteristic that makes us human.  Understanding is what motivates us to accept and empower rather than marginalize.

Carlos Gerardo Quijada, PhD, LPC

© 2018 Carlos Gerardo Quijada. All Rights Reserved. 

1) Kheriarty, A. (2012). The Catholic Guide to Depression: How the Saints, the Sacraments, and Psychiatry Can Help You Break Its Grip and Find Happiness Again.  Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute.

2) Franks, J. D. (2012) Forward. In A. Kheriarty, The Catholic Guide to Depression: How the Saints, the Sacraments, and Psychiatry Can Help You Break Its Grip and Find Happiness Again. Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute.

3) Styron, W. (1990). Darkness Visible: A memoir of madness.  New York: Vintage.

4) John Paul II, Address to the Participants in the 18^thInternational Conference Promoted by thePontifical Council for Health and Pastoral Care on the Theme of Depression.  November 14, 2003.  http://m.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2003/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20031114_pc-hlthwork.html.