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Introduction.
This paper will consist of three sections:

1.Depression-How is it to be understood?
2.A word of caution to the Pastor.
3.How can a Pastor help? Luke 24v13-34 and other Scriptures.
Depression- How is it to be understood?

1. Secularism
Depression is increasingly understood to be a neurological, and therefore a medical, phenomena. The proper functioning of brain chemicals are identified as normative in the emotional experience of human beings. The correct levels of brain chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, noradrenalin etc are thought to be the cause of emotional health and reductions of such chemicals are thought to lead to the experience of unhappiness, or in the extreme cases depression. These brain chemicals function as neuro-transmitters and low levels are thought to impede the electrical activity of the brain and this in turn can ultimately result in emotional disturbance.

Emotional disturbance is currently understood as a medical phenomenon and is constructed along the lines of pathology and disease. The disturbance itself can be variously described as Depression, Uni-polar or Bi-polar Disorder or as belonging to one of the increasingly occurring constructions known as Syndromes.

Critique.
Such a conception of human emotional experience is fundamentally humanistic, materialistic and evolutionary. There is no place here for the reality neither of the human soul nor of man made in the image of God sharing in the nature of God and made for fellowship with Him.

Secularism/Materialism only allows for the possibility of the physical reality of the nature of man and in so doing is committed to the idea that the emotional life of man must originate in his physical nature. The only physical option is the human brain and so the prevailing idea is that the functioning of the brain determines the emotional health of the individual. Experiments undertaken on various forms of animal life such as rats and monkeys are applied to human beings in the belief that what is true of the former must therefore be true of the latter. Such experiments often consist of post-mortem examinations of the animal brain, after the animal has been subjected to various stresses, and then comparing such brains to the brains of other animals that have not been subjected to such stress. In turn the conclusions are applied to human beings. The common factor is our shared animal nature.

An important point to remember here is that if we are to be consistent then we must accept that if we are prepared to think of our negative emotional experience to be the result of a depletion of brain chemicals, then our positive emotional experience must be the result of the proper amount and functioning of brain chemicals! Thus it is not the case any longer that we have “joy in the Lord” or “Joy in the Holy Spirit”. It is right neurological functioning that lies behind our experience.

Such materialism is discussed by Machen (1) where he identifies it as one resolution of the mind/brain problem in philosophy. He reminds us of the need to understand that a human being is both body/soul and that it is in the latter that the emotional life has its origins. (See below).

Secularism, in its medicalised form, prescribes various physical treatments for depression. This means treatments that are designed to have an effect upon the human brain and are an attempt to raise the neuro-chemical balance of the brain. Such physical treatments include anti-depressant medication (especially tri-cyclics and a-typical medicines) and ECT. It is unclear at the present time within psychiatric practice how the latter works.

2. Biblically.
The Scriptural doctrine of man is the place to start if we are to understand the nature of emotional experience in general and of depression in particular.

The fundamental truth set forth in scripture is that man is made in the image of God and therefore shares in the nature of God. This means that man is in a real sense like God and that this likeness involves the capacity to know and be known by others. It is in the soul of man that his true likeness of God is to be found (Gen2v7) and that this is the primary grounds of his nature. Contrary to secularism it is the soul that is the foundational reality of human beings and whilst this view does not discount the importance of the body it nevertheless underlines the defining truth of humanity.

Thus the Bible locates human emotional experience in the human soul or in the human heart. It is true that occasions for joy can be found outside of the human heart and this is especially true when the Bible talks about the Spirit as a source of joy (Gal 5) or our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ ( ?). Whatever is the external source of joy it is always located according to Scripture in the heart/soul.

Depression is likewise experienced in the soul of an individual as is well expressed in the closing words of Psalms 42/43:

“Why are you cast down O my soul?”

As with the experience of joy depression or other forms of human unhappiness can have an objective dimension to them but are experienced within the soul itself. Sometimes the scripture identifies trouble within the heart/soul itself as the reason for depression. An example of this is found in Proverbs 12v25 and is further developed in 14v30, 17v22 and 18v14.

Proverbs 12v 25 identifies the source of a person’s depression as:

“Anxiety in the heart of man”

The Heart here can be understood by us to refer to the mind or the soul of an individual and Anxiety means any disturbance or unsettling within. Couple this verse to the positive exhortations in the other above mentioned verses and the emphasis seems to be upon the attitude or outlook or perspective or mental approach of the person and the experience of health. A good inner attitude or mental perceptional habit (or as therapeutically expressed: cognition) means a positive emotional experience even in the presence of adverse objective circumstances such as illness or persecution whereas a bad inner attitude or mental perceptional habit ( cognitive dysfunction) means a negative emotional experience even in the presence of good objective circumstances and no obvious problems.

To summarise: The Bible teaches the importance, indeed the primacy of our minds in the totality of our living. The Biblical emphasis upon the mind is two-fold: content and habit of thinking/patterns of thinking. A Christian is both to have the correct content in his thought life (Truth, Doctrine etc.) but also to develop the right mental pattern for thinking which is the Mind of Christ (Phil 2v5). It is the latter which is of supreme importance and is in need of developing. It is to be developed by the consistent practice of “reckoning ourselves” Romans 6v11 or “knowing that” Romans 5v3.

Both faulty content (not just spiritual content but psychological also) and especially faulty habit of thought are the Biblical explanations for depression. Objective phenomena such as human relationships and the experience of tragedy can impact upon both the content of thought and the patterns of thought but ultimately they are not determinative of depression. It is the activity of the thought life that is. This can clearly be seen in the experience of the Apostle Paul who knew great objective difficulty but because he was cognitively able to function (aided by grace) he was not to experience depression cf 2 Cor 6v4f and 2 Cor 11v24f).

2 A Word of Caution to the Pastor.
At this point it is important to consider a remark made by AA Hodge over a hundred years ago (referred to at the Dogmatics Conference, Edinburgh) which articulates a truth we need as Ministers if we are to help those who are depressed by our preaching. In the context of the debate between foreordination and freedom he said:

“many of us who are the staunchest Calvinists feel that the need of the hour is not to emphasize a foreordination, which no clear or comprehensive thinker doubts, but to unite with our Arminian brethren in putting all emphasis and concentrating all attention on the vital fact of human freedom” (2)

An emphasis upon freedom in Christian living is a powerful way of bringing a sense of hope to a Christian experiencing severe depression. It allows for the possibility of change, of improvement and that things can be different. Alternatively an emphasis upon foreordination, received in a negative cognitive context, may leave a depressed Christian thinking that the depression is the will of God (whose will cannot be resisted) and is present according to the counsel of God and is part of the out-working of His purpose. It is fixed and irresistible and the Christian looses hope and so resigns herself to the inevitable.

3. How can a Pastor Help? Luke 24 v13-34.

A quick examination of this passage can provide Pastors with both a model for understanding depression and the importance of the role played by a person’s cognitive faculty in the experience of it and with a way of seeking to help a depressed individual. This passage thus provides us with both a Conceptual framework and a Therapeutic one.

3a) How the men saw it.

From v 17 we learn that the two men walking back to Emmaus were sad. If we were able to ask them why that was so they would have pointed to the events of that week-end; the Crucifixion and reports of the resurrection of Jesus v19-24. For them there was a clear link between how they felt and what they had experienced. The events had led them to experience a confused cognitive condition and this in turn resulted in sadness. It was obvious. Events such as they had witnessed would be enough to cause anyone to be sad. They imply that their sadness was in no way anything to do with them! It was all external and objective, all the “fault” of what had happened.

3b) How Jesus saw it.

Conceptually, v25-27 reveals that Jesus understood the sadness of the two men to be essentially the result of faulty thinking. Such faulty thinking centred upon how they understood Christ but also had implications for themselves as disciples. Both the way and the content of the thinking of these men led them to be sad. If they had thought correctly about the events of that weekend then they would have understood and not have been left in the condition they were in.

Conceptual Framework
Thus it is not events themselves that are the roots of depression but the way such events are processed, perceived and given meanings. We all learn to do this to all the events of life and are often unaware that we do so. The types of meanings that we give and the ways in which events are processed are the result of the psychological belief systems that have been developed over a lifetime and these in turn impact upon the cognitive processes themselves.

Therapeutically Jesus begins by asking them to offer a description of things v19 and when this is complete he sets out to change firstly the content of their thought and then ultimately the ways/patterns of their thought life v25-27. He teaches them to give the right meaning to events and in this context that meaning is found in the pages of the OT.

The end result is a transformation of the experience of the two v31f.

Therapeutic Framework
Our method then is to be Descriptive and Cognitive. Time is to be spent asking the person to describe how she/he feels, what has happened to them etc. in order to access how that person is thinking. A Pastor needs to understand the patterns and contents of the mind of the person he is seeking to help.

Then he is to seek to re-orientate the habit if thinking. It is by showing how faulty thinking leads to unhappiness that relief is brought and change facilitated. The aim is to bring the person to experience Insight at this point and it is this that proves to be the occasion for change.

My personal method

For what it is worth I offer here my method of working with people who feel depressed, perhaps as a discussion tool.

1. Description. It is important to remove both from my mind as far as is possible from the mind of the person who is seeking help all existing pre-suppositions. A telling of the personal story is required free from any conceptual framework. This process takes time and it is important not to feel any pressure to come up with solutions at this point.

2. Explanations. This stage seeks to begin the process of explaining the emotional experience by reference to the thought process (Cognition). A useful tool at this point, borrowed from the practice of philosophy, is metaphor. A metaphor is any idea expressed by the phrase “Is what you are feeling like this….”

3. Insight. This occurs when the individual comes to see the why in which his/her thought life lies behind the psychological belief system in place and the way in which this in turn impact upon their cognitive functioning i.e. meanings/ perceptions. Insight needs to be followed up by practice in everyday experience.

References:
1 Machen, JG The Christian View of Man Chpt 11 Banner of Truth Trust McCorquodale Ltd 1984.

2. Hodge, AA Evangelical Theology Lectures on Doctrine pg 134 Banner of Truth Trust 1990 Camelot Press Ltd