What Does Depression Mean for My Faith?

By Kathryn Butler, MD

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What Does Depression Mean for My Faith?

By Kathryn Butler, MD

... Show All

Biblical Hope for Those Who Suffer from Clinical Depression

Studies show that everyone will encounter someone who struggles with clinical depression at some point in their lifetime. Depression's debilitating, pervasive joylessness is crippling. It can affect your body and brain, numb your emotions, and put strain on your relationships. For Christians, it can even inhibit them from delighting in the greatest gift ever known—the good news of the gospel.

What should Christians think about clinical depression? How can church leaders respond lovingly to those who face this dark, unsettling, and sometimes baffling dilemma? In What Does Depression Mean for My Faith? author and physician Kathryn Butler addresses common misconceptions about mental illness in the church. She offers grace, relief, and practical help to Christians who feel shame, and she equips church leaders with the tools they need to extend Christ’s love to the vulnerable.  

  • Comforts Those Who Suffer: Offers grace, relief, and practical help to Christians who feel shame over clinical depression 
  • Equips Those Who Care: Provides a clinical, theological, and practical understanding of depression so church leaders can compassionately assist those who suffer 
  • Short, Accessible Format: Combines anecdotes, a concise overview of depression, and practical pointers
  • TGC Hard Questions Series: Equips readers with answers to difficult questions facing today’s church

Read Chapter 1


Author:

Kathryn Butler, MD

Kathryn Butler (MD, Columbia University) trained in surgery and critical care at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where she then joined the faculty. She left clinical practice in 2016 to homeschool her children, and now writes regularly for desiringGod.org and the Gospel Coalition on topics such as faith, medicine, and shepherding kids in the gospel.

Product Details

Category: Christian Living
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 80
Size: 4.5 in x 6.5 in
Weight: 2.09 ounces
ISBN-10: 1-4335-9345-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-9345-1
ISBN-UPC: 9781433593451
Case Quantity: 136
Published: May 21, 2024

Table of Contents

What Does Depression Mean for My Faith?
Notes
Recommended Resources

Endorsements

“Kathryn Butler has provided the church with a treasure in What Does Depression Mean for My Faith? Combining her clinical training and her own lived experience of depression, she offers depressed Christians, their pastors, and fellow congregants invaluable help, steering a course through depression. This resource is indispensable for anyone navigating the theological questions that surround depression.”
Karen Mason, Director of Hamilton Counseling Program, Professor of Counseling and Psychology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

What Does Depression Mean for My Faith? is an incredibly helpful resource, full of clinical insight, practical wisdom, and biblical truth. Kathryn Butler writes with great tenderness and care, always with a view toward the hope we have in Christ. Her words meet us in the dark and point us to the light.”
Scott James, MD, author, The Sower; The Expected One; Where Is Wisdom?; and When Your Child Is Ill: Nurturing Faith in Hard Times

“This book is compassionately tailored to those crushed by both depression and the gnawing fear that their depression excludes them from the hopes of their faith. While Dr. Butler and I come at the issue of depression from different angles, I love her practical tools for walking faithfully as a Christian in the face of severe depression. Full of scriptural perspective on weathering the storm, this book encourages hurting strugglers toward Christ!”
J. Alasdair Groves, Executive Director, Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation; coauthor, Untangling Emotions