It does not discriminate.<\/a><\/p>\nMy own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the vice) is, like all feelings, morally neutral in itself. \u00a0It\u2019s like weather, except with chemicals instead of air. \u00a0Feelings do what they do and the emotion of anger is supposed to provide us with the energy to get up and do what needs to be done to right a wrong. \u00a0But when we freeze up our anger and turn it toward ourselves, it can crush us with depression. \u00a0Of course, depression has physiological causes too. \u00a0But above all, *blaming* people for the heavy cross of depression helps nothing. \u00a0We can choose what we will do in response to depression, but depression is not a \u201csign\u201d that God is angry at you or that you have sinned or that you are stubbornly refusing to \u201csnap out of it\u201d.<\/p>\n
Most important, depression can be healed. \u00a0It crippled me for years. \u00a0The burden is much lighter now, thanks be to God.<\/p>\n
If you struggle with depression, consider the sacrament of anointing. \u00a0Also, counseling, spiritual direction, and the sacrament of penance can be powerful helps, as well as doing the works of mercy for others. \u00a0If depression is frozen anger and anger is energy for life, then letting that energy be expended in love for others can be a profoundly healing thing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It does not discriminate. My own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the vice) is, like all feelings, morally neutral in itself. \u00a0It\u2019s like weather, except with chemicals instead of air. \u00a0Feelings do what they do and the emotion of anger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-54671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-doings-on-other-blogs"],"yoast_head":"\n
Michael Lichens on Depression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It does not discriminate. My own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael Lichens on Depression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It does not discriminate. My own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-09T07:36:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-29T04:06:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html\",\"name\":\"Michael Lichens on Depression\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-09T07:36:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-29T04:06:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"It does not discriminate. My own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Michael Lichens on Depression\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael Lichens on Depression","description":"It does not discriminate. My own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michael Lichens on Depression","og_description":"It does not discriminate. My own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2014-09-09T07:36:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-29T04:06:47+00:00","author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html","name":"Michael Lichens on Depression","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-09T07:36:43+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-29T04:06:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"It does not discriminate. My own experience of depression is that it is a kind of frozen anger, turned inward at myself. \u00a0Anger (the emotion, not the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2014\/09\/michael-lichens-on-depression.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Michael Lichens on Depression"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}