How To Heal Depression Spiritually

Find A Creative Outlet

Choose something that gets you active and busy reconnecting with the unlimited creative source within your soul. For me personally, I enjoy writing, but I also like to draw, paint, and color-in. Sometimes cooking helps, or gardening. Anything to do with your hands where you dont have to think much and you can just focus on creating something wonderful is all you need!

Difficulties In Marriage And Settling Down

I started a rigorous doctorate program at the age of 25. Eventually I also got engaged to Jason, the man I had been dating while in the mountains. We soon got married, bought a home and land, and together started a small produce-farming business. During that year, the feelings of anxiety and its associated physical affects were at an all-time high. The worrying thoughts continued unabated, I lost considerable weight, had daily bouts of diarrhoea and had to force myself to eat. When I was not studying, I would worry about not studying. I would worry about getting perfect grades and competing with my classmates. I would fret about whether or not I married the right man and about how it was even possible to start a career and still have a family of my own. These kinds of thoughts would spin around in my mind the whole day. Having no answers or solutions to these thoughts, I began to slip into states of depression. Along with this I would begin thinking that I was physically ill, had cancer, or some other incurable disease. In fact I tried to rationalise with myself that it would be easier to have an incurable disease than to try to finish school and make my marriage, family and business work. These thoughts would create yet another downward spiral of negative visions and ultimately result in a deeper depressed state.

How Do I Know If I Want To Cure Myself From Depression

Like any problem if there are not enough facts to solve depression, we have to do more research to gather more facts. Since we are talking about you not a laboratory or a math equation we factor in the human element: You must WANT to be better.I know it sounds simple, even non-sensical to ask since you are here, but: Do You Want to Get Better? Depression doesnt just gain a life of its own, it gains a mind of its own. Like cancer it will lie, cheat, and steal to stay alive.

Depression serves only one master, Satan. There is the possibility that depression has brought you here to learn about its enemy. Remember Sun Tzus Art of War, Know thine enemy as well as you know thyself.Depression knows everything that you know. It will try to protect itself by blocking your attempts at getting well. You may Learn how to cope with depression here, but later, when you least expect it, a small voice inside you may say, Its a fact of life Life is too difficult I cant do it I want to be alone Tell them to go away Thats depression talking to you. Depression is a demon whispering to you, programming you to fail from the inside. You have to expect how this demon may counter what you have learned here. Know thine Enemy.

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Had A Crisis Of Faith In Christianity Where He Did Not Feel A Relationship With Jesus And Had

Some believed that prayer could have a healing effect. Through prayer, one woman gained a sense of comfort and a feeling that God would always ‘sustain’ her and not prolong her suffering, even though she had experienced severe and long episodes of depression. While people could say formal prayers, they did not have to know particular prayers. Some people simply talk to a higher power/God as if they were talking to another person or an absent therapist. Some asked others to pray for them, such as when they were too unwell to pray themselves. While depressed people did not necessarily feel there was any benefit to praying at the time, they felt it was helpful in the long term. One woman used a metaphor of an iceberg melting in the sun to explain how she thought prayer helped people.

What Was The Actual Reason Behind Excessive Sexual Thoughts

When the negative energy of ghosts stored in the loins is predominantly related to the Absolute Earth and Absolute Water Principles, then the Raja attribute in the mental sheath increases. This results in an increase in sexual desires. These black frequencies of the ghosts affect the reproductive organs causing them to contract and expand, thus affecting the mental sheath and fanning sexual desire.

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The Word Of God Is Holding You More Than You Are Trying To Hold Him

b) Fight the good fight knowing that and resting in the Truth is holding you more than you are trying to hold Him . With this new secure perspective, your prayers or Bible reading doesnt have to be about striving to achieve more blessings or a spiritual breakthrough. Instead, it can be a healthy discovery of your wholeness of grace and fellowship of God with you . Learn to delight in this wholeness mindset and it will naturally lead to new spiritual disciplines you actually want.

c) Fight the good fight”

For more encouraging Biblical/Scriptural insights for depression, anxiety, and any other mental health challenges , make sure to check out these encouraging articles:

DISCLAIMER: Living Grace, Redefine Grace, Family Grace, Thrive workbooks, free resources, blog articles, and all other resources are biblical and educational resources to provide support for mental health challenges and are not intended to replace or discontinue professional therapy and/or medical services, counsel, and treatment plans. Mental Health Grace Alliance resources complement and promote professional services for additional and ongoing care. Participation is voluntary.

Spiritual Ways To Help Depression

If youre searching for spiritual ways to help depression, youve landed in the right place.

Im not a religious person, but I am a very open-minded, spiritual person.

Expanding my spirituality has really helped improve my mental health in so many ways I never thought were possible.

While Im not saying spirituality has 100% cured my depression, it sure makes it easier to manage it.

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Finding Inspiration For Healing

If you are someone who has a hard time taking action, I would suggest finding inspiration and block out anything or anyone who isn’t supportive. Even social media cut down your time spent on there. Start to surround yourself and your environment with things that you love and that bring you peace. Start envisioning a life that you want. I always turn to prayer when I want help & need more clearance. Find things that make you laugh and try to be more present within yourself. Theres so much to turn to for inspiration and it can lead you on to something amazing and much bigger. You are meant to shine!

Notice How Your Mind Works

You create your experience through the thoughts you focus on.

That is why we all have different frustrations and fears. We have different thinking about different things.

When I was in my spiritual depression, I had thoughts such as: You need to do something. Youll never get anywhere. Youll end up broke.

If I believed those thoughts, I got to experience the corresponding feelings of fear, anxiety, and despair.

You have thoughts about how life should be. You have belief systems that give rise to fears that then try to leverage you into fixing the perceived problem.

Notice that you feel what thoughts you pay attention to. If you feel like this shouldnt be happening to you, you feel wronged and victimized.

If you have a thought that says that youll never get out of this, and you believe that thought, youll feel despair and hopelessness.

But you will get out of this. Ive been where you are, and I made it.

This is an opportunity for you to see how your mind works, and how you create your experience of life.

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As A Catholic Gay Male His Christianity Has Been A Great Source Of Comfort And He Has Never

When religion or spirituality worked against wellbeing, it contributed to negative thinking patterns, anxiety and depression. As children, some people had picked up the religious message that ‘good behaviour leads to heaven, and bad behaviour leads to hell.’ This idea had been frightening and unhelpful when they were children. Nevertheless, such early messages could be challenged as part of becoming an adult, and recovering from depression. For instance, one young man in his thirties decided to turn away from Christianity because of his difficulties with the notion of ‘sin,’ as well as the fact that he never actually felt a personal connection to Jesus.

Can Spirituality Cause Depression

Depression is a mental disorder that can be caused by many different factors, including spirituality. Some people may experience depression as a result of their spiritual beliefs, practices, or experiences.

While spirituality is not always a cause of depression, it can be a contributing factor for some people.

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Spiritual Help For Persons Suffering From Depression

Translated Title : Duhovna pomo osobama koje pate od depresije

Vlaho Kovaevi

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Theology Poljanska cesta 4, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract

Currently, many experts are discussing and examining the impact of spirituality on health. It is no longer arguable to claim that spirituality has a positive effect on a person’s health. Pope Francis highlights that, in the Catholic Church, every person finds a spirituality that can provide healing. The focus of this paper is limited to the impact of spirituality on the health of persons suffering from depression, particularly on the forms of spiritual help found in Christian spirituality. This paper will be presented in three chapters. In the first, the symptoms and causes of depression are examined. In the second chapter, the author explains what constitutes spiritual help for depressed persons and which aspects should receive special attention in order not to do more harm than good. Various forms of spiritual help for depressed persons within Christian spirituality are described in the final chapter.

Introduction

1. Persons Showing Symptoms of Depression

DSM-5 lists nine symptoms of major depressive disorder:

The diagnosis of major depressive disorder requires that five or more of the symptoms listed above be present during the same 2-week period and represent »a change from previous functioning: at least one of the symptoms is either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure«.8

How Can Forgiving Myself Cure Depression

In the physical plain we are given the lessons by God which lead to our personal salvation. We draw experiences to ourselves according to our mind-patterns. If a negative experience is drawn to us, this means we must correct an imbalance in our mind-patterns. This world being full of negative experiences can easily be dealt with if we stop dwelling on negative experiences of the past.The past is an illusion. Dwelling on negative experience only brings more negative experience. Forgiving the negative experience as a lesson to be learned and a cause for change invokes our salvation and clears the way for a better world. Any person, place, or thing that provides a negative experience must be forgiven. We must let go of memories that only cause negative emotions. Forgive the past and let it go.

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Turning Point Overcoming Anxiety Attacks And Depression

The one tool I had continued to use as a safety net since I was in my early twenties was my Yoga practice. I had practised Yoga mainly for its physical benefits however, I found that it would temporarily relieve some of my anxiety too. While I had never practised it daily, I made a firm resolved to do so from now on. It was through this new Yoga class that I had decided to take and its teacher, that I was introduced to SSRF. One day in class, when I was the only student, I opened up to my new Yoga teacher, who was a seeker practising Spirituality under the guidance of SSRF. I expressed to him that for years now, I had felt distant from God. My teacher simply said Do you not think that God would like to have a relationship with you again? That day I began my spiritual practice with SSRF. My teacher recommended that I meet with his wife, as he felt that she would be able to explain spiritual concepts better. We began meeting and the discussions we had started to clear up much of the confusion I had about religion and Spirituality as well as why anxiety and depression had engulfed me for so long. We began having weekly satsangsand I began studying all the information the SSRF website had to offer.

What Is A Spiritual Depression

So, what is the dark night of the soul, or a spiritual depression?

Heres how Eckhart Tolle describes it:

It is a term used to describe what one could call a collapse of a perceived meaning in lifean eruption into your life of a deep sense of meaninglessness. The inner state in some cases is very close to what is conventionally called depression. Nothing makes sense anymore, theres no purpose to anything. Eckhart Tolle

So the dark night of the soul is when life suddenly seems pointless and meaningless.

In my case, everything I held dear lost its meaning. Life didnt make sense. Spirituality seemed pointless. I couldnt find comfort anywhere.

But it is in this darkness that profound transformation is possible. When everything is meaningless, you have the opportunity to let go of old beliefs, concepts, and fears.

What collapses is not who you are, but how you view life, or your ego as some call it.

For example, if all your life youve been obsessed with accumulating wealth, that may now be taken from you, so you can see the truth.

This darkness is life trying to shake you from your conceptual slumber. It is an opportunity to awaken to who you truly are, the presence within.

If you want a video I did on the dark night of the soul, Ive added it below.

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What Else Could I Have Done For Healing Depression

I could have gone to the psychiatrist and probably had medicines prescribed. However, I did not believe that these medicines were healthy. Also I had a lot of doubts about western medicines and western doctors as I felt they only do their job for money, not to help people.

I could have also gone to a priest of any religion to ask for guidance or a remedy for healing depression, but I felt dejected. I have met many and seen that they are either egoistical or hypocritical and that they know very little about Spirituality.

What About Antidepressants

In fact, recent studies suggest that depression starts higher up than chemicals. It starts with the formation and function of neurons. In other words, the brain cells in depressed people are adapted to express their depression. This takes the form of neural pathways that carry a message of sadness and hopelessness instead of those pathways that carry a message of happiness and optimism. Some important research studies have found that antidepressants are only marginally more effective than the placebos to which they were compared. Other researchers have found that talk therapy is just as effective in changing the brain responses associated with depression.

Important note: I want to emphasize here that severe depression requires medical treatment of the most intensive kind. Millions of people testify that antidepressants have relieved their suffering when nothing else helped. On the other hand, many people who dont truly need them are being prescribed antidepressants. Instead of undertaking cognitive therapy, looking at the underlying issues of their depression, or trying other approaches, they are taking pills because its easier to do that than to look long-standing emotional patterns or difficult relationships. This trend is particularly prevalent in the U.S., whose population makes up approximately 4 percent of people on the planet yet consumes two-thirds of the worlds supply of antidepressants.

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When Did It All Begin

My depressive states started manifesting since I was around the age of 17. It started at first as resentment towards my family and towards society. I continuously tried to separate myself from my family. I was arguing very often with them, trying to push them away to be left alone. A few times I tried leaving the home but would come back after some time. Once I left home on a cold day while it was raining and walked one mile in my socks.

Watch The Negative Self

Depression has a way of making everything seem worse. That’s when you really need to watch your inner voice.

You know the one. It calls you names after making a simple mistake. Always tells you what you should’ve done or should be doing now.

Here’s the thing: Don’t believe it. You aren’t the voice in your head. When it starts lashing out, put it in its place. You might want to:

• Think about what you would say to a friend in this situation. Tell yourself that story instead.
• Ask your inner voice for proof. Is it right or just a cranky loudmouth?
• Try to reframe whatever triggered it. If someone just treated you poorly, it may not really be about you. Maybe they’re under a lot of stress and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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