A brand new study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, titled “Maladaptive blame-related action tendencies are associated with Vulnerability to Major Depressive Disorder,” well, that pretty much says it.
If you’ve ever had depression, you’re going to say “yup” about a lot of these findings.
But first, what makes this study particularly interesting is that it looked at people with a history of depression who now felt their symptoms had resolved.
They called it “remitted depression.”
I’d recommend reading Eric Dolan’s write-up on the study at PsyPost, but here’s the gist:
-Researchers compared a group of patients with a history of depression, who were now symptom free vs. those who had never had depression.
-The two groups were asked to rate how they’d feel during a hypothetical conflict with their best friend.
-Then, the two groups were asked to pick an action they’d most strongly feel like doing.
The remitted depression group was more likely to feel like hiding, creating distance from themselves, and apologizing even when their friend had been guilty of the wrongdoing in the hypothetical conflict.
In other words, even though their depressive symptoms had remitted, they displayed a different set of blame-related actions than the group who had never experienced depression.
As the study author’s note, these maladaptive tendencies were independent of the type of emotion, thus “unveiling novel cognitive markers and neurocognitive treatments.”
Now veering only slightly from the topic.
Scientists have already established that people with depression are more likely to experience moral emotions related to self-blame — which includes guilt and shame.
And in turn, you can feel guilty about your depression. Which makes things even harder.
This is why Christians with depression have to be careful about churches and ministries (of which there are many) that obsess over guilt.
“You can only preach the Good News if you tell the Bad News that we’re all sinners and guilty before God.”
True.
But once we’re forgiven, we’re forgiven.
God forgets our sin, forgives every future sin, and we’re now his children.
Remember, “if we are faithless, he remains faithful.”
Nothing can separate us from God’s love, and that includes any sin — past, present, or future.
The Bible is absolutely clear about this, and yet many ministries want you to dwell on your guilt.
I suppose their thinking is, “The more horrible you think you are, the more wonderful you’ll think Christ.”
But the more horrible you think you are, the less likely you’ll be able to believe in and trust Christ’s grace…..And the more likely you’ll think you’re beyond repair.
Again, because of our medical condition of depression, Christians with depression are particularly likely to wallow in the guilt and self-blame that keeps us from trusting God’s love.
It’s still a battle for me. Big-time.
That’s why it’s important for us to avoid Christian preachers and teachers who almost seem to glory in the inglorious, who seem to think it’s righteous to continually dwell on how unrighteous we are, who keep Christians permanently guessing whether they’re really Christians or not.
But as Brennan Manning writes, God probably sees you and says, “I expect more failure from you than you expect from yourself!”
In other words: our sins don’t surprise God, he expects them. Hence, Christ.
Manning continues: “Are you moody and melancholy because you are still striving for the perfection that comes from your own efforts and not from faith in Jesus Christ? Are you shocked and horrified when you fail? Are you really aware that you don’t have to change, grow, or be good to be loved?”
We sin all the time, and will continue doing so, and that’s why God’s mercies are new every morning.
I often think of my own kids (and we’re God’s kids, of course). When they do something wrong, do I want them to wallow in guilt?
No, that’s a tragic thought!
That’s the last thing I want. I want, more than anything, for them to understand that they’re loved, no matter what.
Satan can’t take away our salvation, but he certainly tries to take away our assurance of that salvation when we sin. He certainly tries to convince us we’ve passed the point of no return.
And unfortunately, far too many ministers preach guilt and not grace.
I’ll finish with this, from Manning’s book, The Wisdom of Tenderness.
“I’ve listened to people with low self-esteem say something like ‘I simply can’t accept that Jesus’ feelings toward me are different than my own’.
In other words, the person is saying, ‘I won’t allow Jesus to be Jesus in my life.’
Such intransigence not only preempts the possibility of living each day in the wisdom of tenderness; it also consigns the speaker to a lonely and loveless existence that disallows Jesus from being the Savior who sets us free from fear of the Father and from dislike of ourselves.”
[Photo: Pexels, free stock photography]
