Overcoming Depression Bible Study
SESSION # 1 EXPERIENCING HOPELESSNESS Susan was twenty-five when she underwent an emergency hysterectomy following the birth of her first child, who was stillborn. In addition to the loss of her child, Susan was painfully aware of the loss of hope of ever having children that were biologically her own. In Susan’s emotional experience, these losses meant the loss of all hope for future happiness.
Being the mother of John’s children was what Susan wanted more than anything else in life. To lose this felt like losing everything. When friends tried to cheer Susan up with reminders of her successful career, or with thoughts of adoption, Susan felt even more alone with her hopelessness. The future stretched out in front of her like a bleak desert. She was unable to hope that life would ever feel good again.
The feeling of hopelessness is an intensely desperate feeling. Hopelessness is the expectation that nothing good will happen. It is the expectation that the painful feelings will go on forever. The fact that hopelessness is a giving up on the future is one reason why the struggle with hopelessness is fundamentally a spiritual struggle. When we feel that all hope is gone, we find ourselves wondering if God is a good God. Does God care? Do our needs matter to God?
The text for this study examines a day full of feelings of hopelessness. The day Jesus was crucified was a day when all hope must have disappeared for His followers. They had looked to him for deliverance from their oppressors and for hope of a better future. He was the Messiah in whom they had placed all their hope. And now he was dead. The world had gone mad. And where was God? How could God allow such a thing to happen? What hope could there possibly be in the face of this evil?
Personal Reflection
Bible Study Read Matthew 27:41-56 (a modern translation like the New Living Bible, the Message or the New International Version may help)
Prayer
What would you like to say to God about your experience of hopelessness?
Session 2 WAITING FOR HOPE
Hope is necessary to life; without hope, we give up. We do not care what happens to us, we withdraw from others, we no longer feel pleasure, we have no interest in going about our daily lives, we may wish to die.
When depression becomes intense, it is difficult for us to remember that life once seemed meaningful or to imagine that life could ever again feel worthwhile. We have no past, no future. Just the intensely painful present. And the waiting. We’re not sure exactly what it is we are waiting for. Are we waiting for something to change? For the rage and despair to dissipate? For God to speak?
This waiting for hope is one of the most difficult parts of recovery from depression. No matter how long it lasts, it is a stage that lasts too long. The process seems pointless to our conscious mind. (Why can’t we do something? This is just waiting!) But depression is a battle at the spiritual core of our being. The transformations that are at work are slow and cannot be hurried. We wait for a word from God. If God should speak too soon, it would just be more words added to the clamor of the multitude who have spoken too soon, too glibly and too cheerfully. There is a season of waiting for God that is a necessary part of our healing journey.
The text for this study shows the prophet Jeremiah waiting for God. Jeremiah was deeply depressed after his people were taken into exile and his city destroyed. Everything he knew and loved was lost. He sat in the ashes of the destruction and wept. He wept for his friends and for his city. And he wept for himself. The first glimmer of the possibility of hope came to Jeremiah in the midst of his deepest grief. That was all it was. Just a glimmer. A hint. An intimation of the possibility of hope, or it was enough. Enough to make it possible for him to wait for God.
Personal Reflection
Bible Study Read Lamentations 3:16-24
Prayer
What would you like to say to the God whose compassion never fails?
SESSION # 3
MAKING ROOM FOR HOPE Bill spent months grieving the losses he experienced growing up in an alcoholic home. He spent many months depressed over more recent losses in relationships he had formed as an adult. There were times when it seemed to him that all there was to life was depression. As he did the work of grief and as he waited, however, he gradually found himself better able to focus on the reality of the losses and to feel his feelings about them. He then experienced a season he described as being on an emotional roller coaster. He would sometimes be surprised by how much “better” he felt and quickly plunge back into deep depression. He found this very confusing.
“I guess I’m not sure I want to let go of my depression,” he said. “This really must sound crazy, I know, but the depression is all I have left to show that I really value the relationships I have lost. What I lost was important to me. I’m afraid that if I am not in pain, it will mean that I didn’t really care or that I don’t care anymore.”
It is a normal and predictable part of recovery from depression to find ourselves hanging on to the depression. It is not crazy. Often it feels that if we give up our depression, we will have nothing left. The time comes, however, when we find ourselves experimenting with letting go. It is not that we come to a time when we “should” let go. If “shoulds” could fix depression, we would all recover from depression very quickly. It is, rather, that we come to a time in the recovery process when we have the resources to experience other emotions. Initially it may feel as if we are being unfaithful somehow to the losses, but we are more than our depression. We are still capable of a wide range of emotions. These other emotions are making their presence known.
In the text for this study we see the psalmist beginning to make room for hope in the midst of his depression.
Personal Reflection
Bible Study
Read Psalm 77
8. The psalmist’s struggle with depression leads him to actively seek hope by meditating on God’s mighty deeds; in this way, the psalmist begins to make room for hope. Restate in your own words some of the truths about God that the psalmist reflects on. How might reflecting on God’s powerful interventions on behalf of His people help increase our capacity for hope?
Prayer What would you like to say to God about your desire to make room for hope?
SESSION # 4 RECEIVING GIFTS OF HOPE
When we are depressed, we lose interest in the things in life that normally give us pleasure and that can make life seem worthwhile. We don’t have the energy to feel appropriate feelings when we are given gifts. Instead of experiencing gratitude, we may have confusing thoughts run through our heads: “Is this gift supposed to make me feel better? Have you forgotten how much pain I feel?”
In the process of recovery from depression, however, we find ourselves renewing our capacity to receive simple gifts like companionship, food, and sleep. Depression may have deprived us of these things, and we must learn afresh how to be with others and how to nourish our bodies with food and sleep.
In the text for this study the prophet Elijah has been threatened with death because he has challenged the worship of the god Baal. Elijah knows that the threats are serious. Therefore, he flees in fear, alone, to the desert. There he sinks into a deep depression. As the text shows, God finds ways to bring gifts of hope to Elijah in the midst of his depression.
Personal Reflection
Bible Study Read 1 Kings 19:3-9
Prayer
What would you like to say to God about your need for gifts of hope?
SESSION # 5
GROWING TOWARD HOPE
Mary’s long and intense struggle with depression began five years ago when she moved to a new city. Today, over lunch with her best friend, Mary reviewed the last five years. “If I could go back in time,” she mused, “and choose whether or not to go through this, I would not hesitate for a minute. I would never choose to experience what I have experienced. It is true that I have grown enormously as a person because of this struggle. I am a more compassionate person now, less judgmental, more attentive to emotional pain. But no growth in my character could ever make up for the pain for this struggle. “Don’t get me wrong,” Mary continued after a few minutes of silence, “I am grateful for the growth that has come. I’m glad I’ve grown. But I’m not glad for the losses or for the emotional pain. Depression can be an opportunity for emotional and spiritual growth. Growth can come at the most surprising circumstances. This does not mean that the depression is good. It does not mean that we would ever choose to go through this experience. Growth can come in the midst of recovery from depression, however, and that is a good thing, God is able to take the pain and evil in our lives. And for that we can be grateful.
Personal Reflection
2. How have the positive changes that have come out of your struggles impacted your relationship with God? With friends? With people at work? With your family?
Bible Study
Read Romans 5:1-8
Prayer
What would you like to say to God about your journey of growing toward hope?
SESSION # 6
FOCUSING ON THE SOURCE OF HOPE “My own Mom and Dad failed me,” Linda said in her support group meeting. “Then my marriage fell apart. And then my health fell apart. Life has always been hard. I don’t see why I should expect it to ever get any better. If anything, it will probably get worse. How is it possible for me to have hope? Life seems to come with a guarantee of hardships and suffering." Human relationships seem to come with a guarantee of disappointment and loss. Many of us have echoed Linda’s question. How is it possible to have hope? If hope is the expectation of good, how can we experience hope when we live on a fallen planet as fallen creatures? The Bible teaches that there is more to the story of our lives than our experiences of loss and disappointment. The planet may be fallen, but God does not forsake it. God is actively present in our lives, bringing gifts of life and joy into the midst of our darkness. We can dare to hope because of who God is. Because God is a God of love and compassion who actively cares for us, we can allow ourselves to hope.
May God surprise you with good gifts of love as you focus on him as your source of hope.
Personal Reflection
1. In what ways has your relationship with God been negatively impacted by your experiences of depression? Explain.
2. In what ways has your relationship with God been positively impacted by your experiences of depression? Explain.
Bible Study
Read Psalm 146
Prayer
What would you like to say to God who is the source of your hope?
For more information contact John by calling (505) 345-2778 or email him at johnthurman22352@msn.com
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