DEPRESSION:
The Cause and Cure
P a r t II
by Tim F. LaHaye, Pastor Scott Memorial Baptist Church San Diego, California
S ince depression is a universal experience, it is worth our time to examine its basic causes. T emperament T endencies Although depression is common to all tempera ment types, there is none that is so vulnerable to this problem as the melancholy temperament. Mr. Melancholy can go into longer and deeper periods of depression than either o f his fellows. Mr. San guine can be depressed for a brief period of time, but since he is so susceptible to his immediate en vironment, as soon as he has a change of environ ment, he experiences a change o f mood. Thus a cheerful companion coming on the scene can trans form his mood of depression into one of joy. Mr. Choleric is a perennial optimist and looks with such disdain upon depression because of its impractical resultant apathy that he does not ordinarily become a slave to it. He is not overly occupied with him self, but has long range goals and plans which more than occupy his mind in the field o f pro ductivity, which is not conducive to depression. Mr. Phlegmatic would probably rate second in de pressive tendencies among the four temperament types, though his periods of depression would not be as frequent nor as deep as the melancholy type because of his basic cheerful nature and his sense of humor. It should be borne in mind, however, that we are not one solid temperament type; there fore, if a person is predominantly phlegmatic with some melancholy tendencies, he is going to be vul nerable to depression. If he is a combination of choleric with some melancholy, again he will ex perience depression. Thus we see why it is impera tive to understand the universal aspect o f de pression.
There are three reasons why Mr. Melancholy has the problem of depression more than others. 1. His greatest weakness is self-centeredness. Everything in his life is related to self. He spends a great deal of his time in self-examination. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones states the following: “The fundamental trouble with these people is that they are not always careful to draw the line of demar cation between self-examination and introspection. We all agree that we should examine ourselves, but we also agree that introspection and morbidity are bad. But what is the difference between examining oneself and becoming introspective? I suggest that we cross the line from self-examination to intro spection when, in a sense, we do nothing but exam ine ourselves, and when such self-examination be comes the main and chief end in our life.” Essen tially then, the difference would be that self-exami nation is commendable when it results in doing something about that which has been discovered. Self-examination for its own sake is introspection, which produces depression. 2. Mr. Melancholy is a perfectionist; there fore, he finds it easy to criticize not only others, but himself. No person can become so distressed with his own work as Mr. Melancholy. The fact that it is far better than either of the other temperament types means nothing to him. That it does not meas ure up to his supreme standard of perfection both ers him and causes him to become depressed at what he considers his own failure. Psychologists tell us that a melancholy person is often prone to be over-conscientious. Dr. Cramer expresses it this way: “ The depressive takes life too seriously. He has a narrow range of interests,
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JULY, 1967
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