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A few weeks ago I was looking for articles about being LDS (a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and having depression. I found this article skimmed it and then moved on. In the mean time I kept thinking about different points from the article.
One being the concept of not being righteous enough. '“In the LDS Church it’s like, ‘I feel depressed,’ and it’s like, ‘Oh you must not be righteous, maybe you should go serve somebody and then you would be,’” Lindsay (name changed) said. She told Doty how feeling judged by others contributed to her depression. Lindsay, age 32, also said, “It’s just something we do to ourselves, that’s not coming down from the prophet, it’s not coming down from God. That’s just us comparing ourselves to each other and having that perfect standard.”' For me it is a mixture of feeling judged and judging myself very harshly.
The next idea was how to use the Gospel to overcome depression.
"However, Doty cautioned practitioners about incorporating gospel messages into therapeutic treatment programs. She counted few women who were coping with depression by turning to scriptures, prayer or temple attendance because these strategies caused them to feel more inadequate.
“Let’s not set them up to fail by throwing all these things that, in a deep depression, actually come off as guilt producing,” Doty said. She prescribed a system of treatment that helps LDS women reach a healthy, functioning level then introduces the principles and habits of gospel living.
“Give people permission to not be perfect,” Doty concluded. She said the ability to cope with one’s imperfections precedes healing by virtue of the atonement of Jesus Christ." Just yesterday I was trying to be better and read my scriptures and my level of anxiety went way up. My thoughts kept turning "What if I can't do this everyday?" "Why don't I feel the Spirit?" "When I try to be good my depression gets worse. Am I going to have a breakdown tomorrow?" Needless to say it wasn't a very spiritual moment.
The article from which I quoted can be found at the following link.
http://timshawsamplewriting.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/lds-women-deal-with-depression/
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