ManageYourEmotionsBook8.5x5.5_RevJULY.indd

8 Defeating Depression

“I have had enough Lord . . .Take my life” (1 Kings 19:4).

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I f you don’t suffer from depression, chances are someone you know does since experts estimate that as many as forty million Americans battle the blues. 53 Next to pain, depression is one of the major ailments that send patients to their primary care physician. 54 The cause of this physiological/psychological malady remains a source of contention. Many professionals in the field blame such external societal issues as a breakdown in the family, increased materialism, media overload and a prodigious preoccupation with “self.” Others classify depression as a disease, or more specifically a chemical imbalance. Although research reveals that those born since 1945 are ten times more likely to suffer from depression than those born before, 55 this “darkness of the soul” has plagued mankind for millennia, operating under other names and often going undiagnosed. I am well aware this is often a physiological condition that

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