Depression

This is the fourth class in the fifth series of classes of the Women’s Foundation series.

This class looks at what the Bible teaches about anger, depression, despair, worry, bitterness, and self-esteem and how to deal with them.

I. Basics of Depression

A. The ____________________of Depression

B. ____________________With Depression

C. ____________________of Depression

Generally, when someone is diagnosed by a medical or psychological professional as depressed it includes some or all of the following:

• Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day
• Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day
• Significant weight loss when not dieting
• Weight gain
• Appetite problems nearly every day
• Inability to sleep or sleeping more than usual
• Feelings of restlessness
• Feelings of inability to have energy
• Fatigue
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
• Diminished ability to think, concentrate or make decisions
• Recurrent thoughts of death, including possibly suicidal thinking

We might define depression for this class as “overwhelming mood or feeling of hopelessness, sadness, and despair which results in an inability to handle life.”

II. Depression as Genuine Suffering

A. Walking In The ____________________Deut 8:2-3, Prov 4:26

B. Possible Biblical ____________________

1. ____________________Someone or Something That Was The Center Of Our Life[1] - Romans 1:25

2. ____________________When Being Successful is Mandatory – 2 II Cor 5:9

3. Feeling Like You Have Done Something ____________________– 2 I John 1:9

4. Being ____________________and Not Dealing With It Correctly – 2 Eph 4:26

5. Believing Wrongly About ____________________– Psalm 119:2-3

III. Biblical Solutions

A. ____________________Biblically Rom 8:28-29, Psalm 107:6

B. Learning to ____________________Biblically II Cor 10:55

C. Biblical ____________________….One Little Step at a Time John 13:17

D. ____________________II Cor 4:16-18, 1 Corinthians 10:13

E. ____________________I Thessalonians 5: 16-17

F. ____________________For God Psalm 119:67-68, 71

IV. Additional Helpful Tips (15 minutes)

A. Medical Complications

B. Symptom Relief

C. Sleep

D. Disciplined Living

E. Counseling

Recommendations for Further Study

Hope for the Depressed by Edward Welch

Depression: The Way Up When You Are Down by Edward Welch

Hope For The Depressed by Edward Welch

Depression: Hope In God by CCEF

Depression: Looking Up From The Stubborn Darkness by Edward Welch

Good Mood Bad Mood by Charles Hodges

When The Darkness Will Not Lift by John Piper

Out of the Blues by Wayne Mack

What To Do When You Become Depressed by Jay Adams

Will Medicine Stop The Pain? by Elyse Fitzpatrick & Laura Hendrickson