CCES in the News!

Christian Counseling and Educational Services was recently in the news! The following article was published in the Carroll County Times on Monday, November 14, 2005 prior to our "Dealing with Depression" seminar. To learn more about seminars and workshops available through CCES, please visit our Seminars page, or contact us.

Workshop to Help Address Depression

By Diane Reynolds, Times staff writer
Monday, November 14, 2005

It didn't help that her husband's other wife, Peninnah, was birthing babies right and left.

That was a bummer and Peninnah was always rubbing it in.

Moses got depressed, too, and so did Jonah, who tried to run away from his responsibilities only to get swallowed by a whale.

The Bible is full of stories of people who suffered from depression and full of ideas for how to cope with the dark spells that enter people's lives, said Dr. Ann Shorb of Hanover, Pa.

Shorb, who runs a private counseling group called "Christian Counseling and Educational Services," will hold a workshop Tuesday night called "Dealing with Depression" at Faith Community Bible Church in Westminster.

She didn't purposely time it to coincide with the holiday season, but she acknowledged Christmas can trigger depression.

Christian psychologists don't treat depression much differently from secular psychologists, she said, but they do have a rich resource at their disposal - the Bible.

"If you really look at the Bible," she said, "everything you can face is dealt with."

Including depression.

For example, when Job got depressed because his life was falling apart under Satan's attacks, his friends initially came and sat with him.

Shorb likewise encourages her clients to identify their own support systems.

"Who can you call?" she asks them.

When David got depressed, he expressed his anger at God. So did Jeremiah.

Sometimes people who are mad need to tell God how upset they are, Shorb said, and let him work in their lives to heal them.

Jeremiah moved from anger at God, Shorb said, to understanding that God did many good things for him, too.

"Because of God's great love, we are not consumed," Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3:22.

Not only does the Bible contain stories relevant to our lives, Shorb said, it contains wisdom. "As a Christian counselor, I believe ... our greatest source of healing is God himself."

According to Jesus, she said, depression is not a sin, though a sin can trigger depression.

People's depressions fall into two categories: external and internal, she said.

An external depression is driven by an outside event: the death of a loved one, abuse or the diagnosis of cancer, for example.

An internal depression is triggered by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

The Bible won't help people who have a chemical imbalance causing their depression, she said, until the underlying physical problem is treated.

In those cases, she refers her clients to a psychiatrist who can prescribe medications.

"Medication gives people a jump start," she said.

Some people have melancholic personalities that make them more prone to depression, she said.

Moses is a good example. "He has such a keen eye for perfection that when he didn't get it, he got depressed," she said.

In the end, however, people can lean into the hope offered in the Bible, she said, without denying the reality of pain and suffering.

" 'God is close to the broken-hearted,' " she quoted from Psalm 23: 15.

Reach staff writer Diane Reynolds at 410-857-7873 or reynoldsd@lcniofmd.com.

Find out more about Christian counseling.

To learn more about seminars and workshops available through CCES, please visit our Seminars page, or contact us.