Battling Depression: From Darkness into Light

By James Ray Ashurst PhD

There are over 25 million people in the United States who suffer from the terrible illness of depression. You may be one of those or you might know of someone who is one of its victims. This book deals with the many ways to combat the illness and to come from the darkness of depression into the light of a fulfilling life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973682288

James Ray Ashurst PhD

Dr. Ashurst has lived in the Northeast Georgia mountains for thirty-four years. After nine years as a teacher in Florida, he moved to Georgia where he became a school counselor for twenty-five years. He has also been a private clinical therapist for fifty years. His purpose in writing this book is to be a lifeline to those who make up his life and for those whom he has yet to meet.

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Copyright © 2019 James Ray Ashurst, PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The information, ideas, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Before following any suggestions contained in this book, you should consult your personal physician or mental health professional. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising as a consequence of your use or application of any information or suggestions in this book.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8226-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8227-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8228-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019920647

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/20/2019

Contents

Chapter 1 Life under a Microscope

Chapter 2 The Depressed Life

Chapter 3 Family Members in Warfare

Chapter 4 Matt

Chapter 5 Teenage Dynamics

Chapter 6 Owning Your Life

Chapter 7 Owning Your Happiness

Chapter 8 Owning Your Sense of Humor

Chapter 9 Owning Your Past

Chapter 10 Owning Your Time

Chapter 11 Owning Your Present

Chapter 12 Owning Your Integrity

Chapter 13 The Perfect Mom

Chapter 14 The Helpless Daughter

Chapter 15 The Deliverance of Treatment

Chapter 16 Spiritual Treatment

Chapter 17 Support Group

Conclusion

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Ms. Amy Grice—Organizing this material

Ms. Debbie Pannell—Distributing this material

Ms. Carolyn Baker—Proofreading the material

Ms. Joy Breedlove—Proofreading the material

Also thanks to those who were willing to proofread the manuscript for me. Due to time constraints, I wasn’t free to use them, but they are very precious:

Ms. Melody Barnett

Ms. Amy King Neese

Ms. Gina Donahue

Ms. Val Sink

Ms. Sandy Bell

Ms. Jeannine Schnatterly

Ms. Fran Edwards

Ms. Michelle Bennett

This book is

dedicated to the following:

D. S. and J. S.

T. P. and S. P.

Without their financial sponsorship, this book would still be in my dreams.

Depression is a disease that can immobilize an individual’s life mentally, emotionally, and physically. Many people in the United States face this horrible illness each day and also witness its impact on family members. Depression can occupy the lives of children, teenagers, and adults.

Fortunately, depression is medically and psychologically treatable. There is amazing help available. This book provides useful ways of maintaining one’s self-esteem, self-worth, and self-image while journeying through the corridors of depression. It is my wish that whether you suffer from depression or not, this book will provide enlightenment and insights.

Writing on depression is painful, sad,

lonely, and stressful.

—Andrew Solomon,

The Noonday Demon

I have been working on this book for many, many months. Difficulties in concentrating, my wandering emotions, recollections of struggling depressive situations, the spillages of past depressions over into my present day—all of these and more have created invisible physical, emotional, and mental roadblocks that have prevented crystal-clear thought processing at times.

Chapter 1

Life under a Microscope

The stairs looked menacing to me. They had never looked threatening before, but today they did. There were only eight steps from the bottom to the top. It was the usual number in all of our homes in the neighborhood: to reach the kitchen and some of the bedrooms involved eight steps from ground zero to the top. The top of the stairs seemed very far away.

When I reached the fourth step, I was totally exhausted. I had to rest. I sat down on the fourth step and waited until I could regain my strength to climb the next four. Sitting there, I realized that something was wrong—drastically wrong! Even a schoolchild could conquer the eight steps without having to catch his or her breath.

But not me! What’s going on?

When I finally reached the top of the stairs, I had to sit down once again to muster the strength to limp to my bedroom so that I could flop down on my bed.

The next day I was in my doctor’s office, describing to him my distressing event. Just telling him what had happened made me nervous—almost panicky. My vivid imagination had created all kinds of terrible diseases that I might be having.

The doctor asked me a few questions, and his diagnosis literally changed my life: Ray, you are suffering from clinical depression.

What? I don’t have time for that! What will people think when they find out? I’m not supposed to be depressed. I’m much too busy for that, and besides, what do I have to be depressed about?

"I’m giving you an antidepressant prescription. It should be very effective, and no one has