A complete formula for overcoming depression

What do Solenn Heussaff, Nadine Lustre, Gab Valenciano, Sarah Geronimo, Vice Ganda, Maricel Soriano, Jed Madela, and Sharon Cuneta have in common? They struggled with depression and went through hell.

“Depression is like wearing tinted glasses,” writes Stephen Altrogge. “Everywhere you look, things look dark. Bleak. Black. Hopeless. Helpless.” Borrowing the scary words of Dante Alighieri when he reached the gates of Hell, the waiting room for depression says, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

The signs of the times are shouting loud and clear: Be more compassionate and empathetic to others. Kindly learn to really listen and genuinely care, for we do not know what’s going on inside of them.

1. PERSONAL SUPPORT. When mind and body are in deep pain, the soul is pulled downward, not sideward, “like a heavy weight tied around the ankle.” When this happens, cool down and fight back. Tell yourself: I will overcome this.

Surviving death-seeking attempts due to melancholy, Peachy Rallonza Bretaña finally made up her mind and said: “I choose to fight. I choose not to be afraid. And today I choose life.”

2. FAMILY SUPPORT. Nadine Lustre once talked about the “family who will always be my strength. Friends who will always pull me up.”

About his late brother, she admitted: “If I had talked to him more or if he had opened up to me, in a way I could have changed what happened.” Lustre said that one of the most important lessons she learned was to make her loved ones feel appreciated every single day. Yes, that’s correct, appreciate them every single day.

3. PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT. JC Rowling, the famous author of the best-selling Harry Potter series, suffered from major depression before she went into authorship.

She was a newly divorced mom in her twenties. Rowling dreaded the thought that her infant child would die and, at the same time, she seriously entertained suicidal thoughts. When her doctor knew this, she recommended cognitive behavioral therapy. You see, seeking professional help is not a weakness. It is being brave.

After seeking professional help to overcome postpartum depression, Brooke Shields learned one thing: To cry all you want. And she turned her diary into a book “Down Came the Rain.”

4. SPIRITUAL SUPPORT. Human emptiness is not completely satisfied by medication, studies have shown great results for CBD to treat depression, guidance counseling, BFF’s care, or physical exercises. This is the moment of truth when God comes in. Yes, allow God to come in because, remember, He is the One who placed that burning yen in the deepest chamber of your heart. And only God can satisfy it.

Most survivors struggled every single day to overcome pain and sorrow, believing that our God is bigger than our problems. Learn to kneel down, bow your head, and pray:

“The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). Amen!

Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano ([email protected]) is the author of The Beginning and the End: A Theology of the Human Person (Claretian, 2016), a textbook being used in Catholic colleges.