This post begins with a story. Several years ago I worked at a Sub sandwich shop. A co-worker friend of mine (who I’ll call ‘John’) had a lot in common with me, especially looking at it in hindsight. John could be moody sometimes. John could be overly sensitive. When John and I got into an argument one night, somehow the conversation turned to a bad high school experience John had had several years before, and how our argument reminded him of it. John would routinely dwell on negative thoughts, past wrongs, and occasionally problems present in his life when he got in a mood.
When I got to know him enough to realize that this was what was going on, I felt relieved in a way, because guess what? For years I have done the exact same thing. I fall into a bad mood. I think about a schoolyard bully. I think about a crummy boss at work. I think about every past wrong, slight, and lust for revenge or begin to think I have had a terrible life.
This is depression, and one in ten people suffer from it.
People who suffer from this know that something is wrong. Some people turn to the self-help industry, but none of their methods of overcoming this are supported by any rigorous scientific tests. In other words, they are garbage. Some people turn to church (which these days is something like a self-help movement centered around an ancient middle-eastern book). The churches have something of an awareness that one out of ten of their members are living in a nightmare. Via conversations I’ve had, the churches try to treat problems with depression (including sleeping problems) by roping you into a deeper relationship with the almighty imaginary friend.
Of course, as atheists we’re already aware than none of these techniques is more likely to work than a sugar pill. Our job of fixing the problem is much easier after we come to the rare realization that words have little power to fix brain chemistry,* and an imaginary ghost has no power to fix brain chemistry. To be sure, it is possible that sociability may alleviate depression to some extent, since humans are wired by nature to be a social species, but other than that church has zero power to give you anything except flower-sounding nonsense.
If only more people realized this.
So, what will help with depression and with other problems in life? Science will. We need peer-reviewed answers that have survived at least one peer-review study.
* This includes, in my opinion, “cognitive behavioral therapy.” Some studies say it works, others say it does not. Personally, I doubt if words can make a permanent change in brain chemistry. I have also been exposed to techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy, and haven’t found any relief, so personal experience makes me suspicious of it, too.
