Vatican Meeting On Depression Stresses Spirituality

By CNS

Published: November 20, 2003

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Clinical depression is a serious illness that requires medical treatment, but religious assistance can play a key role in recovery, said speakers at a Vatican conference.

Pope John Paul II told participants at the Nov. 13-15 conference that depression is a spiritual trial, and those suffering from the illness should receive special support from their priests and parish communities.

“The illness frequently is accompanied by an existential and spiritual crisis that causes one to no longer see the value of living,” he told the gathering sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers.

Dr. Bengt J. Safsten of Sweden’s Uppsala University Hospital said the World Health Organization estimates that 1 million people will commit suicide this year and that the rate is 60 percent higher than it was 45 years ago.

The pope told the conference that growing rates of depression around the world are a cause for alarm and indicate that “human, psychological and spiritual fragility” are increased by societal factors, including consumerism and the idea that every desire could and should be satisfied immediately.

In caring for people with depression, the important role of family members, ministers and parish communities “consists above all in helping (the patient) recover self-esteem, faith in his own abilities, interest in the future and the desire to live,” the pope said.

“It is important to extend a hand to the sick, help them perceive the tenderness of God, integrate them in a community of faith and life where they can feel listened to, understood, supported and worthy—in other words, able to love and be loved,” the pope said.

Pope John Paul said reading the Book of Psalms, “in which the sacred author expresses in prayer his joys and anguishes, can be of great help.”

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, illustrated expressions of depression and of an even stronger faith found in the psalms. The text of several psalms could be read as “expressions of a depressive state,” with symptoms of sadness, lack of interest, diminished capacity for work, sleep disturbances, loss of weight, sense of guilt, desire to cry and suicidal thoughts, he said.

The cardinal quoted several examples, including Psalm 55: “My heart pounds within me; death’s terrors fall upon me. Fear and trembling overwhelm me; shuddering sweeps over me.” He cited the distressed author of Psalm 102, who wrote: “I am withered, dried up like grass, too wasted to eat my food.”

At the same time, he said, many psalms exalt the goodness of God and the created world and, in that way, offer a response and a remedy: the conviction that “man is always loved and appreciated by God,” that the world is not hostile but good, and that is it normal to express one’s emotions.

Dr. S. Cervera Enguix, a physician and professor at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, told the conference that clinical depression is not simply an emotional state of unhappiness or sadness in reaction to difficult situations and events in life. Unlike normal sadness, clinical depression is not transitory; the patient feels paralyzed and loses hope of ever feeling any better, he said. It is not simply an emotional or spiritual imbalance, but often includes biological or chemical imbalances, he said.

While medical treatment is essential, he said, spiritual assistance and family support also are necessary because depression creates a feeling of absolute hopelessness and complete abandonment.

Retired Chilean Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez told the conference that a spiritual guide could complement the work of therapists by helping the patient regain a sense of God’s goodness and wisdom, God’s desire for each person to be happy, God’s merciful love demonstrated by the sacrificing of his son for the salvation of all, God’s knowledge of every human limitation and sin and his desire to forgive.

“One who is living the harsh experience of depression needs, from a spiritual point of view, to recover a profound sense of trust in the God who saves and whose grace is powerful enough to overcome the most rending trials,” the cardinal said.

During the three-day conference, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist leaders also emphasized the important role of religious practice and the virtue of hope in helping clinically depressed patients recover.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, told reporters Nov. 12 that the Vatican was discussing the treatment and pastoral care of clinically depressed patients because the illness is striking an increasing number of people around the world.

“They say depression is the principal killer of our age, and I don’t think one should be surprised,” the cardinal said. “Unfortunately, the post-modern culture is a culture empty of values, founded on well-being and pleasure, in which economic profit counts as the supreme goal.”

For all its progress, he said, modern culture has not been able to do away with death. The fact that the Christian faith faces the meaning of life and death and offers transcendent answers means that it also has much to offer about the topic of depression, he said.