| As part of our in-service training, we are reading the book Let Your Life Speak by Palmer J. Parker. Those interested in the book can download it from Amazon for around $10. In Chapter Four, Paker shares his deep struggle with clinical depression. He suffered with it for years and sometimes still does. In one place, he calls that struggle the Slough-Of-Despond.At some time or another, all of us have been depressed; bad news, bad events, health, hurtful comments people make, members leaving angry, etc., but clinical depression, which we often see in our patients, is another situation all-together.The emotional hurt from depression has numerous levels. Many who come to the hospital are suffering from depression. In fact, just having to come to the hospital is in itself emotionally draining for most people. If that trip includes a malady serious enough to call for an ambulance, the emotional aspect becomes even more acute.The following quote by Palmer Parker is about his own struggle, and does not seek to say that it is true of every person who struggles with depression. In his own words, here is what he found about himself:One of the most painful discoveries I made in the midst of my dark woods of depression, was that a part of me wanted to stay depressed. As long as I clung to this living death, life became easier; little was expected of me, certainly not serving others. I had missed the deep meaning of a Biblical teaching that I had always regarded as a no-brainer: 'I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Therefore, choose life' (Deuteronomy 30:19). Why, I wondered, would God waste precious breath on saying something so obvious? I had failed to understand the perverse comfort I sometimes got from choosing death in life, exempting myself from the challenge of using my gifts, of living my life... (See note below)From Doyle: Please friends, there is no attempt here to stigmatize anyone who is struggling with depression. Not sure why, but I felt it important to post the quotes above in hopes it might be of help to some hurting person.Doyl |