The purpose of this chapter is to help you
understand depression and to assist you in completing the missionary work that
you set out to perform. Fortunately, not
every missionary will suffer from depression.
The Church, its leaders, and your mission president have prepared and
put into place many resources designed to reduce the likelihood that you will
ever experience this illness.
What follows are simple working
descriptions of some common forms of depression. Knowing about the types of
depression will help you to identify and resolve them more quickly while
serving your mission.
It is important for you to involve your
mission president early on and then every step of the way as you overcome
depression. It is also important that you communicate with your companion,
mission leaders, and your family.
Depression is a very common medical
condition. Many, many millions of
people currently suffer from depression, including missionaries. Missionaries
with depression often lose their ability to manage their daily missionary
activities. So how do you recognize and
treat depression? Understanding what depression looks and feels like are the
first steps in its successful treatment. Hesitating and denying the presence of
the symptoms of depression may permit it to grow worse. Much like any health
condition—prevention and treatment are the keys to staying in the best of
health.
What
is Depression?
The most common depression is called
classic depression. In fact, it is often
referred to simply as “depression.” It
is more than mere sadness. It requires
that on a daily basis for at least two weeks you have had at least five of the
nine symptoms listed below:
- An unusually sad mood
- A reduced ability to experience pleasure or
interest in your day-to-day activities
- A change in your appetite that often causes a
change in your weight
- Having significant trouble with sleeping
- Persisting fatigue or loss of your physical
energy
- A change in the pace of your speech and/or
physical movements
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
- A reduced ability to think and concentrate
- Having recurring thoughts about death
- Changes in your diet and sleep habits
- Instead of being unable to sleep, you want to
sleep all of the time.
- Rather than losing your appetite, you want to
eat everything in sight — and you gain the weight to prove it.
- More than simply moving or speaking slowly,
you feel as though your arms and legs are carrying heavy weights — like walking
through a swimming pool
- More than simple feelings of guilt or
hopelessness, you begin to have the sense that others are persistently
rejecting or criticizing you.
If
you have 5 out of 9 of these symptoms, you probably have depression. Talk with
your mission president. He might refer you to a person trained in treating
depression. They might start you on several different successful therapies.
Fortunately, depression for the most part is responsive to treatment. Some of
the treatment plans include:
Talk
therapy
- Light therapy to kick-start your brain into making more natural
“feel good” chemical
- Medicine such as vitamin D or other minerals, as well as
antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications
Some forms of depression can go undetected
or misunderstood because of the uniqueness of their presentation. Just
remember, they all have the same basic symptoms that have been described above.
What follows are a few details concerning specific types of depression.
Adjustment
Reaction (Homesickness)
This means a missionary is having
difficulty adjusting to a new situation.
Homesickness is a common type of adjustment reaction depression. It is particularly stressful for a
missionary. Being away from your home,
friends, and family puts into motion the symptoms of depression. If the situation goes away, or if you learn
to adapt to the changes it presents, the depressive symptoms go away as
well. One friend in this situation is
time. As time goes on, you learn to make
new friends and develop a new support system, and you will make a new
home. The feelings of depression will
then subside. Write letters or send
emails home to get support from family and friends. Communicate frequently with your mission
president and mission leaders to get their perspective, as they have been
through it before. Live your mission one
month at time – so to speak – until the symptoms have subsided. Change is the key here, even if it takes a
few weeks or months.
Sometimes you are unable to change the
situation – like dealing with a difficult transfer or companionship. This is another type of adjustment
reaction. If you choose to focus on all
that you cannot change, you may begin to foster feelings of helplessness and
hopelessness.
On the other hand, if you focus on what
you can change, you can improve your situation and your symptoms will go
away. For example, you can improve your
interpersonal communication skills. As
you make this change, your situation will improve as you learn to communicate
better with your companion. This process will help you to regain your sense of
control and reduce your stress.
Learning how to regain your sense of
internal control over external events that you thought were out of your control
is the key to overcoming the symptoms of depression caused by an adjustment
reaction.
Learning such positive and effective
coping skills may require some effort on your part. You can draw from
experiences that you had before your mission.
Keeping open communication with supportive family, companions and your
mission president can add to this process. At times, reading and careful study
will assist you in learning how others have accomplished this change of
perspective.
Should these efforts prove inadequate in
moving you forward in your work to adapt to the situation, your mission
president might have you talk with a counselor who can assist you in this
process.
Atypical
Depression
The key feature of an atypical depression
is a symptom known as “mood reactivity.” Simply put, “mood reactivity” means
that your depressed mood temporarily lifts when you have something good happen
or anticipate something positive will happen (e.g., being around missionary
friends or having something that you have hoped and worked for turn out). In
classic depression, your mood stays depressed even when things around you are
pleasant and going right.
Seasonal
Depression
Seasonal depression refers to a depression
that comes on at the same time or season of the year. This often happens during the winter months
if you’re serving in a place where there is decreased daylight during the
winter season.
The treatment of seasonal depression can
involve the use of special lights. The
lights mimic normal morning sunlight (without damaging your eyes). You awake
one hour before the day’s scheduled sunrise and peer into the light. Over the subsequent week your brain is
tricked into thinking that it is spring or summer.
The result of this trick is a remission of
your depression. It occurs because your brain is prompted (by the light
therapy) to resume making normal amounts of materials that build, store and
transport your natural “feel-good chemicals.” You should continue on the light
therapy until the season draws to its natural close.
Conclusion
Depression is common. It has many forms,
some of which are discussed above. These details are for your use in discerning
how best to recognize and treat your depression.
Use this knowledge to prevent and treat
depression and to move forward in protecting your emotional health. This
information is meant to supplement the countless resources already put into
place by the Church for your benefit. Many of those resources are built into
the mission rules and guidelines.
The Church and its leaders are well aware
that your mission may be potentially stressful at times. They are likewise
sensitive to the fact that you may experience disappointment and despair during
your mission service. For this purpose they have and will continue to provide
you with resources to accomplish the mission on which you have embarked.