On August 11, 2014, Robin Williams, the actor/comedian ended his life by suicide.  In his professional life he was an acclaimed award winning personality, full of life and enthusiasm with an innate ability to make the world laugh, but privately, we are told he was wrought with a crushing depression he suffered for years before finally giving up the fight.   His decision to kill himself was a sad and tragic loss, first for his family that was left behind, and then for the rest of us who greatly admired his quick wit and undeniable charm.

According to recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) statistics (2014 cdc.gov), approximately 40,000 people annually in the U.S. are successful at committing suicide, another 800,000 worldwide according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  In America, suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year olds, the second among ages 25 to 34 and the tenth leading cause of death for all Americans. According to Suicide.org, depression is the number one underlying cause of suicide.

The treatment of depression is now widely accepted as merely a medical issue, a disease of the mind and body.   WebMD.com recommends talk therapy with a trained therapist as one of the best treatment options as well as prescription antidepressants as another key treatment option.   However it also states in regard to antidepressant medication that, “All antidepressants carry a boxed warning about increased risks of suicidal thinking and behavior in children, teens, and young adults 18-24 years old. If you start taking an antidepressant and begin having troubling thoughts, tell your doctor and loved ones right away.”

Troubling thoughts?  Isn’t that what leads someone to take the medication in the first place? If depression is strictly a medical issue, then why do the very medications that are supposed to help contain warning labels of potential side effects of the exact symptoms they are supposed to protect against?

Robin Williams was a man who had extensive financial resources at his disposal and, most likely, access to the best of the best as far as therapy and medicine options were concerned and yet he still killed himself.  The same could probably be said of Singer/Songwriter Kurt Cobain of the popular 90’s band Nirvana, who also tragically killed himself.  (See earlier blog post on this musician)

These deaths of course are tragic, unless you believe “A” – Robin is in a better place now because all roads lead to Heaven, or “B” – that he is at peace now because there is no better place beyond the grave, just blissful oblivion.

Bestselling author Elizabeth Wurtzel of the 1994 book entitled, “Prozac Nation” states this most clearly on page 316 of her book that, “I hate to admit it, but even after years of religious training, I really don’t believe in the afterlife. I still think that human beings, even our beautiful and wretched souls, are just biology, are just a series of chemical and physical reactions that one day stop, and so do we, and that is that.  She continues how she is “looking forward to this blank peace, this oblivion, this nothing, this not being me anymore.   I am looking forward to it for real.”

If this is the case, then suicide, or euthanasia is a very real and appealing option for those tired and weary souls that feel as though they’re messed up to a point beyond repair.  Why go through the formality of suffering through the remainder of time here on earth when comfortable nothingness awaits?

But what if  depression is not a disease of the mind and body, but a sickness of the heart and soul? What if it is a condition in need of a Savior not a suicide?

Though many would quickly dismiss this argument in the age of science, technology and reason, there is little evidence that these later methods are providing any lasting answers themselves.

While there is much to study and learn that years of technical education can teach us about the mechanics of the brain, the mind is different, than say, your bones, joints or liver.  The mind is a place of reason, emotion, spiritual understanding and is vastly undiscovered country in this area of scientific research.

For years and years we’ve been conditioned that only medical professionals can help us navigate the dangerous and difficult waters of these fragile human mental conditions and disorders. However, there is still much they themselves will admit they still don’t know or understand.

In fact, in 2014, shortly after Robin Williams suicide, Time Magazine put together a special tribute edition to honor the comedian/actor.  Featured in it was an article by Dick Cavette suggesting that Robin Williams will not be the last suicidal celebrity because there hasn’t been a lot of progress in a scientific cure as suggested by one person whom he identified only as a brilliant psychopharmacologist (pg. 30).

In addition, many prominent psychologist and religious leaders have commented on the fact that depression is not merely a medical issue.  The importance of this distinction is profound and is often a direct contributor to whether a person will recover from this condition or not.

Robin Williams did not recover! Kurt Cobain did not recover nor did the famous author Ernest Hemmingway.  Each in his own way had contributed to furthering a dire and gloomy narrative on this condition.   Given their perception about what they were facing, this juggernaut known as depression, it’s easy to understand why they never really had a chance.  Not because it was some unconquerable disease whose survival rate is next to nothing, but because their perception of it and the victim mentality that they assumed in their worldview didn’t really allow them to consider any other “rational” explanation other than the dangerous one they assumed.  That depression is just a disease!

It is with this in mind that I interject my opinion upon the subject of mental health, not as a self proclaimed expert, but merely as a survivor and a thriver who feels like I have something to share and to say that you cannot necessarily get from a scientific expert.

In fact, in many ways I am unshackled and unencumbered by the boundaries of science because I am willing to look at all aspects of mental illness.  Without fear of retribution or retaliation from the thought of what my peers might say, I am free to tell you exactly what has worked in my own life and what I am convinced will work in others lives as well, if you give it a chance, or perhaps it’s even a second chance.

Those who are committed to breaking free of anxiety and depression and not being a victim can benefit from considering all options, including religious and spiritual ones that others are quick to dismiss only because of their presuppositions.

Jesus boldly proclaimed that he had come to earth to set the captives free.    It is stated in the book of Luke, chapter 4, vs. 17-19:   

¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed; ¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”[

Also, in the book of John, chapter 8, verse 12,  Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

Now he did not mean by these two statements that we wouldn’t occasionally get depressed if we’re Christ followers, but I believe He did mean that we wouldn’t permanently be a prisoner to it.

Even though there may very well be a war raging in our heart and heads for the possession of our souls, the hope of salvation in Christ  is an enduring hope, a hope that if we allow it too, will sustain us both in this world and the next.