Out of the Depths: Your Companion Through Depression and Anxiety - Softcover

HIGHTOWER, JAMES

Softcover

ISBN 10: 150187134X ISBN 13: 9781501871344

Verlag: Abingdon Press, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

The Out of the Depths series addresses common pastoral crises in a faithful, encouraging, and factual manner that provides support to parishioners in crisis beyond the initial pastoral conversation. These inexpensive 64-page booklets can be given out to parishioners when they bring their recent diagnosis, crisis, or trauma to the pastor as a way to continue to provide care throughout the difficult season. Each booklet begins with a thoughtful consideration of the topic at hand, which is followed up by 30 brief devotions. These devotions are designed to be manageable in an overwhelming time, encouraging, and honest. This Depression and Anxiety edition is authored by Jim Hightower and features insightful devotions by Matt Kelley. The Out of the Depths booklets are essential care resources to be given out by pastors, Stephen Ministers, and congregational care teams. Key Features: - Written by mental health professionals and pastors to help the reader process their trauma both psychologically and theologically. - Includes accessible material describing the dynamics of the crisis situation and typical reactions, which provides the reader with a sense of grounding and direction through increased knowledge. - The thirty short devotions creates a sense of companionship and hope in a difficult and lonely time. - Knowing they are sharing a resource written by mental health professionals and pastors with personal experience provides pastors a trustworthy source of information. - Easy for pastors/churches to keep in stock and distribute as needed, serves as a tangible reminder of the faith community's care.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jim Hightower is a retired minister in the United Church of Christ. He has a Master of Divinity from Earlham School of Theology and a doctorate in psychology and counseling. He is a licensed professional counselor and a licensed marriage and family therapist in Louisiana and Mississippi. Dr. Hightower has previously published eight books including Caring for People from Birth to Death and A Time to Change? Re-Visioning Your Call. Hightower is the pastor of Long Beach Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, MS. He, his wife Susan and their younger children reside in Diamondhead, MS. The older children live in New Orleans with their two adorable grandsons!

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Out of the Depths: Your Companion Through Depression and Anxiety

By James Hightower

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2018 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5018-7134-4

Contents

Introduction: What This Book Can & Cannot Do, 
Chapter One: Recognizing Anxiety & Depression, 
Chapter Two: Forms of Anxiety, 
Chapter Three: Forms of Depression, 
Chapter Four: Treatment Options, 
Chapter Five: Living Your Fullest Life, 
Devotions for Living with Anxiety & Depression, 
Notes, 

CHAPTER 1

RECOGNIZING ANXIETY & DEPRESSION

In this book, we consider anxiety and depression together even though they are distinctly different disorders. We do so because depression and anxiety often occur together, meaning that they are often co-morbid. This term simply means you have more than one illness at the same time. A high percentage of people who have symptoms of anxiety also present with symptoms of depression; the opposite is true as well. While for the purpose of this essay the two will be presented individually, it is important to remember anxiety and depression often hang out together.

Notice that anxiety and depression are referred to as illnesses. How so? With both physical and psychological components that interfere with a person's ability to function, left untreated they can pose major physical risk to a person.

Physical consequences of anxiety can include loss of sleep, a feeling of never being rested or extreme fatigue, headaches, gastrointestinal distress, and more. If the anxiety disorder has progressed to or started as panic disorder, rapid heartbeat, profuse sweating, feelings of dizziness, feeling like you are having a heart attack can occur. If the condition of anxiety is caused by a traumatic event, symptoms may also include emotional or physical withdrawal, and excessive, universalized anger at everybody or everything. Often, if anxiety is left untreated, people may turn to addictive substances to self-medicate. If the substance abuse being used to self-treat is not treated, then all the physical and cognitive illnesses caused by the abuse of alcohol and drugs can occur.

Depression has physical symptoms as well. Depression lowers most people's sensitivity to bodily aches and pains, decreases sex drive, and can lead to eating too little or too much. Depression can cause you to hardly sleep at all (insomnia) or cause you to want to sleep day and night. Depression also compromises your immune system; your ability to ward off infection may be lowered. As with anxiety, substance abuse can also be a symptom or byproduct of depression. At times, depression can make you feel so bad you will opt for feeling nothing. In those moments, your depressed and disordered thinking may convince you that numbing yourself with alcohol or drugs is good; however any drug taken that is a downer or depressant (alcohol, Xanax®, heroin, OxyContin®, Vicodin® and sedative drugs) when you are depressed will only worsen the depression.

If you are depressed, you are at a higher risk of suicide. Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2014, 42,826 people died by suicide with half of these cases involving the use of firearms.

If you are reading this and want to die, have the means to kill yourself, and a plan to do so, please reach out for help. Go to the nearest emergency room or call the suicide line 1-800-784-2433 or the deaf hotline 1-800-799-4889. Contact your doctor, minister, a family member, your partner, or other trusted adult. If you are a teenager, reach out to your parents, foster parents, grandparents, aunt or uncle, parent of a friend, or a teacher. Find an adult to help you.

AM I SAD OR DEPRESSED?

Being sad is a part of what it means to be human. Data even suggests that animals become both sad and depressed. If we all get sad at times, how do you know if you are merely feeling sad or if you are depressed? Is it time to get help beyond the solace of your friends? On the one hand, you do not want to overreact when you are "merely" sad and call in counselors, psychiatrists, and medication. On the other hand, you do not want to underreact and feel more and more sadness, fatigue, and the full, painful range of emotions that come with anxiety and depression without support.

One distinction between normal sadness and depression is the degree to which it affects your day-to-day functioning. Many things in life hurt us. Parents get divorced, layoffs happen, our dreams never materialize, and yet we usually find ourselves adapting to the "new normal" and moving forward. Clinical depression is not that way. With depression there may (or may not) be a life event that makes you sad. Before you know it, that sadness has consumed your life so that every aspect of your life feels sad. Suddenly you feel, think, and act like you are in a deep dark hole. Taking physical and emotional care of yourself becomes hard. You have trouble getting out of bed. You drag yourself through your day. Sleeping is difficult or excessive. Eating patterns are affected. You function more poorly at your job and in other areas of responsibility. You experience feelings of hopelessness.

HOW COMMON IS DEPRESSION?

You are not alone. According to a 2016 national survey on drug use and health, 16.2 million adults have experienced at least one major depressive episode. This number is 6.7% of all adults in the US. Females tend to suffer from depression more often than men (8.5% compared to 4.8%). However, men tend to ignore their feelings; thus they are more likely to go undiagnosed and untreated. Men are also more prone to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol compared to women.

In this survey, the age cohort reporting the highest incident of a major depressive episode was 18- to 25-year-olds. Almost eleven percent (10.9%) of this age range reported at least one major depressive episode. This survey also asked about depression within race/ethnicity. The highest reporting was among persons of two races at 10.5%. In the 12 to 17 age range, an estimated 2.2 million adolescents have had at least one major depressive episode. This represents 9% of 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States. In the adult population, 64% showed severe impairment; in the adolescent population, 70% showed severe impairment due to their depression.

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF DEPRESSION?

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, the following must be true to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder: Five (or more) of the following symptoms have been present during the same 2-week period and represent a change from previous functioning; at least one of the symptoms is either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

Note: Do not include symptoms that are clearly attributable to another medical condition.

1. Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad, empty, hopeless) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). (Note: In children and adolescents, can be irritable mood.)

2. Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all activities most of the day, nearly every day (as indicated by either subjective account or observation).

3. Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day. (Note: In...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Abingdon Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 150187134X
• ISBN 13: 9781501871344
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 64
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland