“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” —Isaiah 43:19

As future naturopathic doctors, depression is one of the most common issues we will encounter. It is rare to find someone who has not experienced at least one season of overwhelming grief in their life.

I recently was in a conversation that proposed a reframing of depression, from a dreaded mental disorder that needs treated, to a state of deep rest that activates healing. The depressed, or ‘deep rest,’ state comes upon us when a death and subsequent rebirth can no longer be put off.

Perhaps we have built an identity for ourselves based on unstable ground, by following what others think we should be, such as our parents, friends or culture. In trying to fulfill these expectations, we slowly lose ourselves. Or perhaps life has forced us to quickly lose and redefine ourselves through the death of a loved one, a marriage or divorce, a birth or a new job.

The exhaustion of depression results from the energy invested in maintaining the old self instead of moving into the next. In the moment it is painful. In the story arc of our lives, it is a catalyst that carries us forward.

In this sense, depression is a feeling of longing. We all have moments when we question our purpose and the meaning of it all. When we feel disappointed by this world and far from home. But this world is broken. It is not our home. If being homesick for heaven is how we understand this, the sense of longing can be lifesaving.

What does this mean for future healers? First, we must be patient with our patients. Healing is a process that takes time. Second, there is a way to reconsider the pain of depression. Perhaps the more desperately we seek to preserve our lives as we have defined them, the more intensely our mind, body and soul will seek depression – deep rest – to save us from the certain death that will come by resisting the invitation for rebirth.

The concept of losing your life to gain it is the result of realizing that there is a better writer of your story than you. The same writer who is the author of all stories, who knows you deeper than you do yourself. When this occurs, an ultimate sense of meaning is introduced to the process of letting the old self pass away. Depression and the dying of the old is the mechanism that draws us towards joy and the birth of the new. Toward the home we long for, and toward true life, to the fullest.

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