Is depression in reality; a Nervous Breakdown?

All rights reserved 2005, Kregel  Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

  Yes, there is a difference between being stressed out and exhibiting signs of endogenous depression. It is sad that mentally ill people are continually told, “You just don’t know how to handle stress.” The stereotypical pictures of mental illness show a stressed-out housewife downing a handful of barbiturates  and eating bon-bons and of men and women in psychiatric hospitals shuffling around the hallways drooling. 

When I first became depressed in 1985, the “nervous breakdown” concept was still very much accepted by the public and by health professionals. The “biological theory” of mental illness was not nearly so widely acknowledged as it is today. 

The affected person is having a “nervous breakdown.” Social historians Megan Barke, Rebbecca Fribush, and Peter N. Stearns believe that the term nervous breakdown originated in the United States in about 1901.(Megan Barke, “Nervous Breakdown in 20th-Century American Culture,” Journal of Social History 33.3 (spring 2000): 565–84). 

The term nervous breakdown was introduced in a technical medical treatise and referred to a belief prevalent in the 1850s that the body was a machine and so subject to physical or mental collapse. Mental collapse came about when the stress on will and perseverance became intolerable. In the 1920s, it was not thought that the nerves literally snapped, but there was thought to be a real breakdown of the mind. Those involved in the 1920s discussion did not recognize a physical component to this breakdown. ⁽ When I first became depressed in 1985, the “nervous breakdown” concept was still very much accepted by the public and by health professionals. The “biological theory” of mental illness was not nearly so widely acknowledged as it is today).

This state of misunderstanding had social implications, for the images associated with a “nervous breakdown” were all negative. Barke, Fribush, and Stearns tell us that from the 1920s on it was strongly assumed that the breakdown victim was “responsible for his (or more commonly her) own fate.” The term took on even more negative connotations in the 1950s. It was said that everyone had a “breaking point.” Those who got depressed enough to be classified as mentally ill obviously had a low tolerance and a flawed personality. They could not take external stress because of an “underlying psychological weakness.”

 

 

People raised under this level of prejudice will do anything to avoid going to a “shrink,” a “doctor for psychos.” They don’t want to be told, “You just don’t know how to handle stress.”Ironically, the idea of a “nervous breakdown” is somewhat accurate in describing what happens in an organic mental illness. Neurotransmitters in some sense do “break down” until the central nervous system malfunctions on a massive scale. But the baggage that attaches to the term remains an obstacle to treatment of mental illness and to acceptance of the mentally ill. 

I was soon introduced to the misconception about my illness as I recovered from my initial bout of depression. That church in central Florida that had looked so promising was still without a pastor. I was feeling well enough to think seriously about renewing my candidacy. I called the deacon who headed the pulpit committee to ask about the possibility of still being considered. In his Southern drawl he responded, “Reverend, I understand that you got a case of the ‘nerves.’ . . .” It was quickly clear that the church would not be considering me any further. Looking back, I know that it was not God’s time for considering a return to pastoral ministry. Nevertheless, the deacon’s automatic prejudice against anyone with mental illness felt like a sword thrust (see Prov. 12:18).



This blog comes from the book Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It.

If you would like to help our ministry, and read about Steve and Robyn's fight with mental illness, please go to http://heartfeltmin.org/join-us.html and scroll down to the donation button. Our book is being offered at cost (8.00$) plus shipping $ ($3.00). This sale will not last forever.  You can buy up to ten for the said price.  If you would like to get Kindle, you can go to

The Working Brain Neurotransmitters

 https://www.nimh.nih.gov/brainbasis/index.html

Everything we do relies on neurons communicating with one another. Electrical impulses and chemical signals carrying messages across different parts of the brain and between the brain and the rest of the nervous system. When a neuron is activated a small difference in electrical charge occurs. This unbalanced charge is called an action potential and is caused by the concentration of ions (atoms or molecules with unbalanced charges) across the cell membrane. The action potential travels very quickly along the axon, like when a line of dominoes falls.When the action potential reaches the end of an axon, most neurons release a chemical message (a neurotransmitter) which crosses the synapse and binds to receptors on the receiving neuron’s dendrites and starts the process over again. At the end of the line, a neurotransmitter may stimulate a different kind of cell (like a gland cell), or may trigger a new chain of messages.Neurotransmitters send chemical messages between neurons.Mental illnesses, such as depression, can occur when this process does not work correctly. Communication between neurons can also be electrical, such as in areas of the brain that control movement. When electrical signals are abnormal, they can cause tremors or symptoms found in Parkinson’s disease.




 Serotonin helps control many functions, such as mood, appetite,and sleep. Research shows that people with depression often have lower than normal levels of serotonin. The types of medications most commonly prescribed to treat depression act by blocking the recycling, or re uptake, of serotonin by the sending neuron. As a result, more serotonin stays in synapse for the receiving neuron to bind onto, leading to more normal mood functioning.




Dopamine is mainly involved in controlling movement and aiding the flow of information to the front of the brain, which is linked to thought and emotion. It is also linked to reward systems in the brain.Problems in producing dopamine can result in Parkinson’s disease, a disorder that affects a person’s ability to move as they want to, resulting in stiffness, tremors or shaking, and other symptoms. Some studies suggest that having too little dopamine or problems using dopamine in the thinking and feeling regions of the brain may play a role in disorders like schizophrenia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)


Glutamate is the most common neurotransmitter, glutamate has many roles throughout the brain and nervous system. Glutamate is an excitatory transmitter: when it is released it increases the chance that the neuron will fire.This enhances the electrical flow among the brain cells required for normal function and plays an important role during early brain development.It may also assist in learning and memory. Problems in making or using glutamate have been linked to many mental disorders, including autism, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) schizophrenia and depression

Amazing story about North Korea, Remember and pray for the Christians there.

  

The Outhouse Of The Prison Was The Only Place We Could Worship.

 Heartfelt Counseling Ministries

 The Scriptures are very clear.  We must acknowledge the suffering and advocate for true Christians who are in prison and are being tortured  We depend on Voice of Martyrs for much of our information.  Here is the link for the rest of the story. http://www.alpharelief.org/stories/infiltrating-a-modern-day-slave-camp-a-secret-mission-to-set-north-koreans-free?gclid=Cj0K 
 Please follow the link and continue to the third paragraph. SB

Jonas couldn’t believe what was happening. For years he had been covertly entering hard labor work sites in remote unnamed locations where modern day slaves were “employed." The slaves had been sent by North Korea as part of a corrupt government program. His mission was to bring food, medicine, and the message of the Gospel to the men who lived with little or no hope. Jonas had been careful to steer clear of the leaders of the slave rings who viciously protected their assets from outside influence, but something had drastically changed.
The very leaders Jonas had done his best to avoid had discovered him while he was ministered to some of the workers. He expected violence, but instead they had welcomed him into a brand new work site that was not on Jonas’ map.  The undercover evangelist suddenly found himself face to face with 30 new workers, all in need of the resources and message he carried.

Why does God allow me to suffer this horrible pain and sorrow ?

It is inevitable that those who suffer trials cannot help but wonder “Why me?” One psychiatrist tried to give me some perspective when he said, “You are actually lucky. A worse illness than yours is schizophrenia. We have many people who come to us for treatment. It ruins relationships, families. They believe people are out to kill them. Be thankful you’re not like them.” I didn’t feel lucky, but over the years I have learned some things about why God allows suffering in the lives of His children in Jesus Christ.

You cannot understand suffering unless you understand who God really is and what He has in store for His redeemed people. I have learned through the school of suffering and by reading God’s Word some important things.

First, God is not obligated to give an all-inclusive answer to us as to our suffering. He does not owe me an explanation for His dealings, even when they involve me. He is the Potter; He can do with His clay as He wishes.

Second, suffering reveals what is in our hearts and gives us the opportunity to trust God. Suffering is the fire that heats the gold and separates it from the imperfections. First Peter 1:6–7 says this very well: In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 

Third, God is my Father, the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort. Whenever there is suffering in the life of a Christian, comfort overflows (see 2 Cor. 1:4). Sometimes the comfort is delayed, but God’s comfort is always greater than our suffering. We read in James 5:11, “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” Perhaps you are in the middle of intense suffering. The jury may be out, but when the trial is over, if you have endured, you will discover for yourself that the Lord is “full of compassion and merciful.”

Be still my soul! The Lord is on thy side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still my soul! Thy best, thy heavenly friend

Thro’ thorny ways leads to a joyful end

 Fourth, suffering is a privilege that God entrusts to His children. Philippians 1:29–30 says, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” As the Puritan Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680) said, “God’s champions are often in the dark.”He entrusts some of His choicest people to suffer intensely. North American Christians especially need to hear about the gift of suffering. We look at the Scriptures through the lens of our ethical hedonistic culture, which values the absence of pain and suffering as an ideal. In reality, the believer’s suffering is a blessing.

Fifth, suffering is wisely appointed by God and fitted for us. Such was the case when Peter was told 

that he would one day be killed on a cross. He immediately asked whether John also would face execution. Jesus said, “What is that to you? You follow Me!” (John 21:22, italics added).

 

Sixth, Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest, has gone before us as our example in suffering (see Heb. 9:11–26, and 1 Peter 3, for example). The Puritan preacher Thomas Manton said, “Jesus is propounded as our example, He endured cruel pains in His body, and bitter sorrows in His soul; deserted by God, contradicted by men, yet He bore all patiently and undauntedly; this is the copy and pattern which is set for our imitation, that we may not sink under our burdens.”

Seventh, suffering connects us closer to trusting prayer. Trust in God at all times; pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. If any man is sad, let him pray, praying always with all perseverance (see Eph. 6:18). Paul said that thanks may be given that you were delivered by many prayers.

Eighth, suffering takes us to the edge of eternity. Christians believe that this life prepares us for eternity. If there were no life beyond this one, then suffering would be most unfortunate. But if Christians are made holy and made more fit for the presence of God for all eternity, then their suffering has immense purpose (Matt. 5:3; cf. Rom. 8:18–19). From our book, Broken MindsHope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It. pp. 84-86.

If you live in the Untied States and would like to purchase  our book, please go tothe following page of our web site and I will give it to you for 1/2 of the retail price $8.00 + $3.00 shipping.  Go to this link and scroll down and click on the donation button. It will be a signed copy. Please ignore the price of $22.00. This is a special offer.

Kregel Publications

You can be sick and be in the will of God!

 Copyright March 2017, All rights reserved

 
 













I have been sick a number of times in my life.  I had kidney stones in my early twenties.  I became very sick at age twenty nine with what was a clinical depression which affected my whole body. I could not sleep, nor eat and I had no sex drive.  My mood was very depressed. My family had to go on Food Stamps and Medicaid and we had had to move into the basement of our relatives. Even now I am on medication which has arrested the illness but not cured it.  Mental illness for me has meant many episodes of depression. 


You need to exorcise the demon!
I remember what happened many years ago, when I was working for an aluminum company. I had a cold and one of my co-workers, who was a Christian encouraged me to, "rebuke the demon" that was causing my cold. What a trite non-biblical approach to sickness! If I believed in a health, wealth and prosperity gospel, I would have given up long ago. Paul the apostle said about one of his powerful missionaries, "Trophimus I left sick at Milteus" ( 2 Timothy 4:20). In fact, Paul himself had a terrible disease, which he called, a "thorn in the flesh." He asked God three times to take it from him.  But the Lord's answer was to him was that He would not take it away. W would he not? According to Paul, it was "because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself! 
(2 Corinthians 12:7)."

 

Depression first hit me in 1985 when I was 29. You can read about our struggle in Broken Minds, Hope for healing when you feel like you're losing it. Look for it at the end of this blog. 

In my thirties, I was hospitalized for electro-convulsive therapy. It brought me out of my deep depression. I was somewhat maintained on antidepressant medications, with episodes of depression coming regularly.

In my forties I again was hospitalized for ECT (Electro shock therapy); It is very effective and is one of the fastest therapies for the lifting of depression. Some people think the only organs you can shock are from the head down. Again there is much ignorance around when it comes to treating the common cold of mental illness, depression.

In 1998, my doctor diagnosed me with bipolar II disorder and he prescribed me Lithium. It worked and brought me up and out of my depressive episode again. But after a few years, in 2001, I became desperately ill with nausea, was in and out of the hospital for weeks and finally admitted; then it took the health care professionals almost a month to diagnose me and get me off the Lithium that was killing me. My psychiatrist and primary doctor did not know that Lithium could be stored in the fats. The blood levels were fine but I became a victim of Lithium Toxicity. I remember our daughter Lindsay, visiting me in the hospital.  She came everyday and sat with Robyn and me, even though she was due to have a child any time.  Robyn told me that Lindsay worried that I would die and never be able to play with her little girl who was due in October. This hospitalization was in August of 2001 and by September 11, I had graduated from a walker to a cane and was getting the poison slowly out of my body. With this toxicity came days and weeks of being unable to walk, I could not hold any food down, Robyn had to help me to the shower. I had muscle twitches, slurred speech and I started crawling to the bathroom. If she even touched me, it felt like a hot, painful shock

On 9-11-01, we lost our Lindsay and her precious Emily Hope. They were hit head-on and killed instantly while Lindsay was driving home from a prayer meeting for our nation after the terrorist attacks. The other driver had open syringes in the vehicle and had been shooting up heroin as he drove his friend's borrowed car, as well as using cocaine and marijuana.  The grief was more horrendous than anyone can imagine who hasn't experienced burying a child. We persevered, only by God's grace, and continued to serve Him. Romans12:12,says, Christians are to: "rejoice in hope, persevere in tribulation and  be devoted to prayer."  We obeyed the biblical command. If Christians did not suffer, everyone would choose to be a Christian!



Many Trials

Throughout our marriage, my wife Robyn, and I have had our share of trials.  In 1992, we sold our home in West Palm Beach and moved to assume a pastorate in Kansas. We packed up our four children and our Cocker Spaniel and drove for four days to get there. After eighteen months of serving and seeing the church double in size, we were asked to leave. Seems the deacons didn't like us drawing attention to the sin that was running all through the families in the church; (unfortunately, mostly the adult children of the deacons). We couldn't believe after uprooting our family and spending a large part of our profit from selling our home, that they were asking us to leave. We looked out the church window at the little town and wondered what we were supposed to do. After counseling with our former pastors in Michigan, they felt we needed time to heal and that our kids needed to see Christianity at its best instead of at its worst. So, we moved to Grand Rapids in 1994. When we left that church, I grieved the loss of pastoral ministry for years.


Job's friends
Some Christians told me that God was not pleased with me and this was why  my life was a pile of troubles. Of course that is not true. I have read the book of Job many times and realized that good people can suffer and often there is a lack of compassion for those who do. Job answered and said, "I have heard many such things; sorry comforters are you all (Job 16:1,2)."

Walking by faith not by sight

The Bible tells us that  we walk by faith not by sight.  Robyn and I, by the grace of God, have been plodders.  We have found grace in the center of our afflictions.  We know for sure that we are children of God.  A couple of years ago, I had  a close friend who told  me that he had cancer but he wanted to do many more things for the Lord before he "left this planet."  But God had another plan. He went to be with the Lord last year.  And near the end, he was not recognizable. No one worthy of being called a friend would assault him with platitudes about how God was going to heal him. He was only sixty one years old.

Don't scold the small-souled!
If you know someone who is sick or having deep trials, don't try to rebuke them for it.
It only makes them feel worse.  The health, wealth, prosperity gospel is not biblical and mocks believers who are sick.   But there will come a day when there will be no sickness or pain.When you are sick remember some day you will be leaving this world to go to heaven .  Hebrews 6:10 says, For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.




 Robyn and I have written a book called, Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're  Losing It. It is the story of our journey with my mental illness, plus the biblical evidence and my professional expertise on dealing with these issues.
If you would like to learn more about trials and difficulties that Robyn and I have experienced, please read about our book Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0825421187/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=1464974030&ref=pd_sl_6ooxcpjb36_e



Steve is a biblical, clinical, counselor.  Please go to our web site for more information.
You can also call us at the phone number on that page. http://www.heartfeltmin.org/#!contact/cito

Eating Disorders, you would be suprised!

 

 

Anorexia nervosa

People with anorexia nervosa may see themselves as overweight, even when they are dangerously underweight. People with anorexia nervosa typically weigh themselves repeatedly, severely restrict the amount of food they eat, and eat very small quantities of only certain foods. Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder. While many young women and men with this disorder die from complications associated with starvation, others die of suicide. In women, suicide is much more common in those with anorexia than with most other mental disorders.
Symptoms include:

• Extremely restricted eating
• Extreme thinness (emaciation)
• A relentless pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy weight
• Intense fear of gaining weight
• Distorted body image, a self-esteem that is heavily influenced by perceptions of body weight and shape, or a denial of the seriousness of low body weight

Other symptoms may develop over time, including:

• Thinning of the bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis)
• Mild anemia and muscle wasting and weakness
• Brittle hair and nails
• Dry and yellowish skin
• Growth of fine hair all over the body (lanugo)
• Severe constipation
• Low blood pressure, slowed breathing and pulse
• Damage to the structure and function of the heart
• Brain damage
• Multiorgan failure
• Drop in internal body temperature, causing a person to feel cold all the time
• Lethargy, sluggishness, or feeling tired all the time
• Infertility

 

 

 Bulimia nervosa

People with bulimia nervosa have recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food and feeling a lack of control over these episodes. This binge-eating is followed by behavior that compensates for the overeating such as forced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, excessive exercise, or a combination of these behaviors. Unlike anorexia nervosa, people with bulimia nervosa usually maintain what is considered a healthy or relatively normal weight.
Symptoms include:

• Chronically inflamed and sore throat
• Swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area
• Worn tooth enamel and increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth as a result of exposure to stomach acid
• Acid reflux disorder and other gastrointestinal problems
• Intestinal distress and irritation from laxative abuse
• Severe dehydration from purging of fluids
• Electrolyte imbalance (too low or too high levels of sodium, calcium, potassium and other minerals) which can lead to stroke or heart attack. 

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml



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A Critique of Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It

I came across this review some time ago.  I feel believe that the man who wrote it did a good job of presenting the gist of Broken Minds. Besides, I like his first name because it is the same as one of my favorite all time pastors; D. Martyn Lloyd Jones. Pictures were added  by ed. SB

Rev. McGeown wrote this in the Standard Bearer Magazine. 

 https://standardbearer.rfpa.org/articles/broken-minds-hope-healing-when-you-feel-you’re-losing-it  

 

Broken Minds: Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You’re Losing It,       Steve and Robyn Bloem. Kregel Publications: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005. Paperback, pp. 301. [Reviewed by Rev. Martyn McGeown.]How do people especially church people—react to depression? The Bloems, both of whom have suffered from clinical depression, argue that the church has failed to minister properly to the mentally ill. 

One of the main reasons for this is the church’s refusal to view depression and other mental illnesses as anything other than a disease of the soul, a spiritual disorder, which modern medicine cannot help. Thus a stigma has developed around the mentally ill, such that physical disorders (kidney stones, arthritis, heart disease, cancer) are categorized in an altogether different manner from mental disorders (depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disease, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress, postnatal depression, etc.). The Bloems have suffered at the hands of—often well-meaning—Christians, who have stigmatized mental illness, and thus added to the burden of the depressed saint in the church. 

The attitude of many is that Christians are not supposed to get depressed, and if they do, there must be some sin, some hidden bitterness, in their life. Often Christians, argue the Bloems, are like Job’s comforters, who added to, rather than helped, his depression. 



For example, in a chapter entitled, “Depression and the Ekklesia of God,” Robyn Bloem writes:

"Fellow Christians have ministered to us in a multitude of ways by both words and deeds. Some also have intensified our grief and frustration by thoughtless words that either came from attitudes of prejudice or the need to fill dead air when the person didn’t know what else to say. The general rule for approaching a friend or relative who is touched by mental illness is to listen much and speak little." (233).

Earlier Steve writes,

"To show Christ’s love, it is sometimes needful simply to weep with those who are weeping, rather than to give superficial advice or try to be cheery. Job’s friends were good comforters as long as they sat in silence. It was when they opened their mouths to preach long, superficial sermons that they were used of Satan to drive Job into deeper despair." (206).

The Bloems speak from personal experience. Steve, a pastor, who is now the director of Heartfelt Counseling Ministries, Inc., has suffered from clinical depression for years, and his wife, Robyn, is no stranger to depression herself—both her own, and her husband’s. 

The Bloems describe (especially Steve’s) experiences—from indefinable feeling of unease, the persistent darkness, the sleeplessness, the crippling incapacitation, the different diagnoses and treatments, the (often unhelpful and even prejudiced) responses of family, friends, and church, and even the alluring song of suicide. Steve devotes a whole chapter to the subject of suicidal ideation and suicide.

The Bloems contend strongly that depression is an illness that can be treated (although not cured) with medical intervention, as well as by the comfort of the gospel. Why are Christians reluctant, they ask, to treat depression as a disease, and seek medical help, while they would frown upon someone who did not seek medical help for a physical disease such as a fractured bone, a tumor, or a blood clot? Why do Christians reject the findings of psychiatry and psychology out of hand, while they embrace the findings of cardiology, oncology, etc.? Writes Steve, “Because we have distanced ourselves from scientific inquiry, we have tended to offer little to the mentally ill—except condemnation” (113).

Steve Bloem writes this to illustrate the inadequacy of the nouthetic, “Christian-counseling” approach to the depressed, which he says he has often found “degrading” (187):

A typical Christian counselor’s response to a depressed person might sound like this:

“Brother, you have suppressed a deep resentment toward another. You have bitterness in your life that you are not dealing with. When this happens, your body does not know what to do with it, and you turn the anger inward on yourself to avoid dealing with the true issues. This in turn will deplete your neurotransmitters in the brain…. So put off your anger and you will put off the depression….”

This fictional counselor finishes the day’s sessions and heads home with a splitting headache. Would he try to get to the spiritual root of his headache? Or would he pop a couple of aspirins into his mouth? (190-191).


 

 





Elsewhere, Steve Bloem describes the “stigma about treatments from the neck down,” by relating the difference between E.C.T. (electroconvulsive therapy) and lithotripsy treatment (the blasting of kidney stones with sonar waves)—one is acceptable (although lithotripsy sounds very strange); the other is (supposedly) the stuff of horror movies! (127). He also relates how he is embarrassed (because of his friends’ reaction) to take his antidepressant medication in public, while no one would question someone taking beta blockers or some other medication prescribed by a doctor. The reason for this attitude, contend the Bloems, is prejudice and stigma.

This book is very helpful in understanding the causes of depression, the treatments available, and the ways in which we might minister to the depressed saint, carrying his or her burdens. It would appear from the Bloems’ book that we have much to learn and many prejudices to put off before we can effectively do this. Believers who suffer from depression, or whose loved ones suffer from depression, as well as pastors who minister to the depressed, would do well to study this book.
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