Why "Pulling Yourself Up by the Bootstraps" Doesn't Work for Depression
Depression is common, painful, and quite frankly, mysterious. While the overused phrase “just pull yourself up by your bootstraps” has little to no effect on individuals struggling with depression, Stephen Arterburn shares three helpful, practical, and healthy tips to start wading out of the darkness depression brings on an episode of Going Deeper.
Reflecting on his own journey of battling the looming cloud of depression, Arterburn does away with the shame associated with taking medication, supporting the idea for people who need it.
Arterburn also offers the following three non-medication tips proven to help lighten the mental load of a depressive state:
- Exercise – more than anything
- Eat healthy – complex carbohydrates and proteins help!
- Seek out good, supportive, and encouraging people
“The harder we try to pull ourselves out of depression, the more we spin into it,” Arterburn said, who learned at age 18 that his grandfather wrestled with extreme depression and eventually took his own life.
Although suicide had a stigma of shame at the time, Arterburn champions talking about it because “if we aren’t aware of it and don’t know what to do, it can get worse,” he said.
Speaking from his personal experience going on an antidepressant his first year at Baylor University, Arterburn supports medication as needed.
He points out the fact that Jesus also used external substances to heal people, such as when he rubbed mud on the blind man’s eyes in Mark 8.
Because “some people have an indigenous depression that breaks them,” Arterburn said, it is crucial to go deeper and unearth the underlying reasons one may be depressed and take the necessary steps to pursue the healing possible for anyone struggling with it.
Whether viewers have battled or are currently fighting the invisible war of depression, this episode contains vital truths to allows the Light of God to invade the darkness in Jesus’ name.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741741.
