DREADED DISEASE: DISCOURAGEMENT P SA LM 42 :1-11
By Al Sanders serious enough to need psychiat ric help during his lifetime." Dr. DeLaVergne also gives the classic symptoms of depression or dis couragement. He includes such things as sadness, guilt, anxiety, fear, feelings of hopelessness, feel ings of helplessness, feelings of worthlessness, despair, insomnia, headaches, gastro-intestinal dis comfort, chest tightness, breathing difficulties, fatigue, weeping, along with other variable factors. The problem we have to face is how does a Christian experience victory over discouragement and depres sion? Just a few weeks ago, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Health Organization reported that at least 1,000 persons commit sui cide every single day. They also tell us that at least ten times that number attempt to take their own lives. Basically the ages of highest suicide incidents are between 15 to 44. Suicide is the third most common single cause of death. It is exceeded only by cancer and heart disease. Dr. Anthony R. May of WHO states categorically that Page 35
made their successful mark in the world of business, politics and ev en the social realm, is namely, "Why do I exist?" Without Jesus Christ there is no possible hope! Despair is at the crux of existential thought. Depression is a human phenom enon which can strike anyone. The first point of our understanding, as well as a proper road to recovery, is to realize that this is absolutely true. Discouragement attacks ev- | eryone from adolescence to old I age. Statistics do reveal that it is I keenly noted in people who are up in years. Science also shows us that depression can be seen even in I tiny babies who are as young as six I months old. Dr. Paul DeLaVergne I is director of the Depression Re search Unit of the Connecticut l Mental Health Center in New Ha ven. He was quoted in "News- j week" magazine as saying, "There is no doubt that depression, long the leading mental illness in the United States, is now virtually epi demic, and suicide is its all too- frequent outcome. One in eight will suffer a bout with depression
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