The New Bible Cure for Depression & Anxiety (6 page)

No one in this world is perfect; neither is anyone competent at everything. But people who dwell on their incompetencies, shortcomings, or mistakes may fall into a pit of hopelessness. That’s why I call this thought pattern “pit thinking.” It is commonly associated with depression. If you are a “pit thinker,” you probably overgeneralize, taking one unpleasant circumstance and believing that it represents a trend of how your life will proceed. You probably use the words
always
and
never
. You think, “I will always be like this.” “I will never change.” Realize that words such as
always
and
never
are absolute words, setting you up for the belief that you cannot change.

If this sounds like something you struggle with, I challenge you to enjoy the next compliment you receive. There is nothing prideful about graciously accepting praise or a compliment when rightfully given. Not only will this reduce anxiety, but it will also add richness to your life. Years ago I heard a pastor say, “Remember your victories and successes, but forget your failures and shortcomings.”

Confession from God’s Word

I repent of this negative thought pattern. I now boldly confess Isaiah 61:3. He gives me the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. I take off the old garment of a negative mental filter, and I put on the new garment of praise and thanksgiving.

I choose only positive thoughts according to Philippines 4:8, which says to think about things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. God has changed my filter to a positive filter. He brought me out of a horrible pit and has put a new song in my mouth of praise and thanksgiving to God. While the late night news is true, honest, and just, rarely is it pure, lovely, a good report, virtuous, or praiseworthy. I will filter all thoughts, media, TV shows, movies, and even my words through all the criteria of Philippians 4:8. If anything falls short of every criterion, I refuse to watch it, think it, or speak it out of my mouth.

9. Emotional reasoning

A person with this distortional thought pattern treats her feelings as facts. If she
feels
depressed or anxious, she believes that something bad is going to happen to her. If she
feels
incompetent, then she thinks she must be doing a lousy job. If she
feels
rejected by others, then she believes she must be worthless. If she
feels
hopeless about taking an exam, she might not even show up to take it. She struggles with the temptation to give up because her emotions make her feel defeated.

The healthy thinker separates her emotions from her overall self-worth. She can separate current feelings from future events. She realizes that in spite of how she is feeling, she can change the outcome of her situation by confessing, believing, and meditating on God’s promises, and expecting His will to come to pass in any situation.

Realize that negative feelings are a sign that you are thinking negative, depressing thoughts. You need to immediately tune in to the thoughts or beliefs that are at the root of the emotion and simply change the channel of your mind to the gratitude channel.

Confession from God’s Word

I will not be influenced by my emotions or feelings, because the just shall live by faith (Heb. 10:38) and it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb. 11:6). I will be steadfast because the truth of my situation is based on what God
says
, not on what I
feel
. In Galatians 6:9 Paul said, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (KJV). I will hold fast to the confession of my hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. I believe the promises God has made concerning me, and I refuse to allow my emotions to control me.

10. The blame game

Many depressed and anxious people are stuck in a trap of blaming others or God. This creates a vicious circle of thinking and feeling that leads to anger, resentment, bitterness, depression, and anxiety.

People with a victim mentality fit within this group of faulty thinkers. They feel that they are victims of circumstances and everything bad that happens to them is someone else’s fault. An example of this form of thinking includes: “It’s her fault [pointing to his wife] that I lost my job because she made me late by not having my breakfast ready.” This person has not taken responsibility.

To break free from this distortional thought pattern, it’s important to realize that the blame game keeps you from taking responsibility for your own failures and shifts the blame onto someone else. Blame locks you in the past; it also prevents you from examining yourself and recognizing and removing thought patterns and mind-sets that continue to sabotage your life. Instead of blaming, take responsibility for your mistakes, forgive yourself, and refuse to blame someone else. If it is someone else’s fault, then simply forgive them. Realize that forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. Choose today to forgive rather than blame—not for the sake of the other person, but for the sake of your own emotional and physical well-being.

Confession from God’s Word

I release all blame toward myself, toward others, and toward God. God’s Word says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” I choose to forgive and cancel the debt even though I was hurt. Forgiveness is a commandment, and I realize if I do not forgive, I will not be forgiven (Mark 11:25–26). I refuse to blame or rehash any hurt or pain. I realize that forgiveness is a decision and not a feeling. I choose to forgive instead of blame.

Putting Your Thought Patterns on Trial

Now that we have identified the ten major distortional thought patterns related to depression and anxiety, we need to learn to recognize these patterns.

Most of these thoughts are under the radar because you have been practicing them so much that they have become mind-sets. You may fly off the handle or become anxious over a minor event or circumstance without even thinking about it, or you feel stress, depression, or anxiety, and you don’t even realize that you don’t have to react this way.

In order to recognize these patterns, you must first tune in to your feelings and take inventory of what you are thinking. By monitoring your feelings you will eventually be able to figure out which thoughts and beliefs triggered your anxiety. I call these “thought triggers.” The thought triggers are almost always one of these ten distortional thought patterns that have become ingrained in your thinking similar to a computer virus. The first step in breaking this stronghold is to identify these triggers.

It is also helpful to journal your thoughts, to write down exactly what is going through your mind when you are feeling depressed or anxious. (Remember, depressed or anxious feelings mean that you are usually thinking a distortional thought pattern or reliving or rehashing a traumatic event.)

Next, compare the thoughts you’ve written down in your journal to the list of ten distortional thought patterns. Then begin confessing the positive confessions from God’s Word that correspond to the negative thoughts you’ve identified in your journal.

I call this “taking your distortional thought patterns to court.” You see, most people believe that these patterns are true since they have been thinking this way all of their lives. However, you need to put these thought patterns and assumptions on trial, convict them, imprison them, and then reprogram them with God’s Word. Unfortunately, most Christians have not done this, and that is why just as many Christians have depression and anxiety as non-Christians.

I also recommend that you seek the advice of a good cognitive-behavioral therapist (CBT) to ensure that you identify and change these distortional thought patterns. (Please refer to
Appendix B
for information.) I commonly refer my patients to a CBT and find that people with depression as well as all types of anxiety disorders will usually benefit significantly from cognitive-behavioral therapy.

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Bible Cure
Prayer for You

Heavenly Father, I begin today to reprogram the negative thoughts that have me trapped in a cycle of depression, anxiety, and worry. I choose to replace them with positive thoughts based on Your Word. Help me to recognize distortional thinking when it happens and to replace it with the reality of how You see me and my situation. Amen.

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Bible Cure
Prescription

Replacing Distortional Thought Patterns

List any common situations that cause you to become depressed or anxious.

List any distortional thoughts or beliefs that may be the underlying cause of these stressful situations.

Now list the scriptures or positive affirmations you can use to replace these distortional thoughts.

Chapter 4: Joy-filled Living With Proper Nutrition and Diet

The things you eat and the things you do can contribute to feelings of depression. Some of our most harmful lifestyle and nutritional choices include drinking alcohol; smoking cigarettes; eating too much sugar; drinking too much caffeine; eating a diet rich in processed foods such as white bread, white flour, white rice, and pasta; eating fast food and junk food; and being addicted to prescription and street drugs.

You can make right nutritional choices today to replace depression with joy. You may think, “I feel too depressed to make right choices.” If that’s your thought, then replace it immediately with this: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13).

The delicate balance of chemicals in your brain is strongly affected when you eat too few complex carbohydrates (such as eating a low-carb diet), have low blood sugar or high blood sugar (which is prediabetes or diabetes), drink too much caffeine, have too much stress or too little sleep, or have critical nutritional deficiencies. All these factors lower your levels of
serotonin
, which we discussed in
chapter 1
. This is why proper lifestyle and dietary choices are critical if you want to prevent depression.

The Connection Between Food and Mood

The brain depends on a steady supply of sugar from the blood, and the ideal amount that the brain desires falls within a narrow range. When we eat too many foods high in sugar or too many processed carbohydrates, the blood sugar rises too high, which causes insulin levels to rise in order to lower the blood sugar. As a result of high sugar followed by high insulin levels, many people develop cloudy thinking and become drowsy and desire to take a nap.

However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, when your blood sugar falls too low, you typically become hungry. If you do not eat within a certain period of time, the blood sugar can actually drop even lower. When your brain does not receive adequate blood sugar, you, as well as most individuals, may become irritable, impatient, angry, weak, shaky, fatigued, depressed, or anxious.

So, what do most people do when their blood sugar is low and they’re experiencing these symptoms? They reach for a Starbucks coffee, a doughnut, a soda, or a candy bar! These do quickly raise your blood sugar, but this is only a quick fix and actually makes your blood sugar drop again a few hours later.

So many Americans are caught in these blood sugar swings and do not realize that a balanced diet containing plenty of fiber, the proper ratio of good protein with healthy fats with high-fiber complex carbohydrates, and at least three meals a day—a healthy breakfast, healthy lunch, and healthy dinner—as well as two to three healthy, balanced snacks (again with adequate fiber), prevents these blood sugar swings. Unfortunately, many people who experience depression and anxiety are caught in this “roller-coaster” blood sugar cycle. It is simply due to wrong food choices.

Many individuals with depression and anxiety have candida overgrowth in the intestinal tract from taking antibiotics, cortisone medications, hormones; from excessive stress or consuming excessive amounts of sugar or processed starches such as white flour; or from diabetes or prediabetes. Over the years I have seen a definite association with many patients with depression and anxiety also having candida and craving sugar and products made from white flour. For more information on this topic, refer to
The Bible Cure for Candida and Yeast Infections.

Also, I’ve found that certain foods might be well tolerated by most people but can actually worsen the symptoms of depression and anxiety in other people. Some psychiatrists have written about this and described the way that some of their patients were greatly impacted by their choices of certain foods. Some patients experienced symptoms such as sadness and crying; others had increased anxiety and panic.

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Bible Cure
Health Fact

Opiates in Milk and Wheat?

According to Dr. Charles Parker, “The peptides from gluten and casein are important because they react with opiate receptors in the brain, thus mimicking the effects of opiate drugs like heroin and morphine.”
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This means that the gluten in wheat and the casein in milk have the potential to cause addiction in much the same way as addictive drugs.

Over the years, I have found two common foods that trigger or aggravate depression and anxiety in some people: dairy and wheat. It is absolutely amazing that when I put patients on a three-week detox diet, eliminating dairy, whole grains (especially wheat), and other common food sensitivities, many of their symptoms of depression and anxiety are totally resolved. Patients with depression and anxiety may benefit from blood tests that check for food allergies and/or sensitivities. For more information on this detox diet, please read my book
Getting Healthy Through Detox and Fasting.

Food Allergies and Sensitivities

Food allergies and sensitivities have also been linked to depression and anxiety. In addition to dairy and wheat, I have found in my practice that many people are either allergic or sensitive to eggs, corn, soybeans, and yeast—to name only a few of the most common allergens. Many times when a person is allergic or sensitive to a food, when they eat that food their pulse will increase. Dr. Coca, an allergist, discovered this decades ago. The greater the allergy or sensitivity, usually the greater the heart increases. This in turn can precipitate an anxiety or panic attack.

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Bible Cure
Health Tip

The Coca Pulse Test

Perform the Coca Pulse Test. Take your pulse for one minute prior to eating. Then place a bite of the food to which you might be allergic on your tongue. After thirty seconds, recheck your pulse. If the pulse rate goes up over six beats per minute you may be sensitive or allergic to the food. The higher the pulse goes up, usually the more severe the allergy or sensitivity.

If you happen to be allergic to wheat, you also may be allergic or sensitive to oats. This allergy or sensitivity can lead to fatigue, depression, and anxiety.

If you are experiencing depression or anxiety and also have food allergies or sensitivities, I believe that it is critically important to desensitize from these foods (or in other words, to no longer be sensitive to them) in order to help relieve some cases of depression or anxiety. One of the best methods I have found is NAET, which is a form of allergy desensitization using acupressure. I have seen hundreds of patients desensitized from food allergies and sensitivities by using this technique.

If you have food allergies or sensitivities, I recommend that you decrease or eliminate from your diet all processed starches such as white bread, white flour, white rice, sugar, pastries, packaged foods, and potato chips. Increase your intake of vegetables, lean meats, brown rice, millet bread, and good fats such as flaxseed oil, extra-virgin olive oil, almonds, walnuts, and fish oil. Drink at least 2–3 quarts of alkaline water a day and follow my “Candida Diet” in
The Bible Cure for Candida and Yeast Infections.

Food Additives

Food additives are a long list of chemical substances that are added to your food for flavor and color, to make it last longer, and for a host of other reasons. The largest group of food additives is the flavorings. Most of these flavoring agents are synthetic versions made from chemicals. Chemical food additives are usually made from petroleum or coal by-products.

MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a common food additive and flavor enhancer found in many processed foods, including soups, gravies, salad dressings, bouillon products, soy sauce, processed meats, ice cream, and so forth. It is also commonly found in restaurant foods, including most fried chicken products, sausage, scrambled egg mix, and grilled chicken fillets.

A new condition associated with MSG is excitotoxicity, in which the glutamic acid present in MSG can be neurotoxic by damaging and eventually destroying neurons by exciting them to death. I have found that it can also cause symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Another excitotoxin is the sugar substitute aspartame. When aspartame is broken down in the digestive tract, 40 percent of the final product is aspartic acid, another excitotoxin. This excitotoxin also overstimulates or excites nerve cells and may eventually cause permanent damage to the nervous system. Side effects of aspartame include depression, visual problems, headaches, confusion, dizziness, convulsions, brain tumors, and so on.

I have found that many food additives, and especially MSG and aspartame, can worsen the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Choose a Healthy Diet

Maintain a balanced diet, which includes lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and lean meats. It also includes avoiding or dramatically decreasing your intake of the following:

• High-sugar foods such as sodas, desserts, cakes, pies, cookies, candies, and cereals
  
• Processed foods such as bagels, white bread, pretzels, chips, white noodles, and the white flour that much of these things are made from (even white rice is a processed food)
  
• Alcohol, cigarette smoke, and caffeine
  

The Seven Pillars of Health
and
Eat This and Live!
discuss in detail how to maintain a balanced diet.

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!

—Isaiah 26:3

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Bible Cure
Health Fact

Excessive Caffeine and Sugar

Although coffee has many health benefits such as preventing diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, excessive coffee intake can worsen insomnia, depression, and anxiety. Excessive sugar intake has also been linked to depression. Most Americans drink carbonated beverages that are high in sugar and caffeine. Excessive caffeine and sugar intake will eventually lead to a loss in B vitamins, an increase in the stress hormone cortisol, and sleep disturbances. These nutrient deficiencies, along with an excess of cortisol and inadequate sleep, can eventually lead to depression and anxiety. If you do drink coffee for its other health benefits, remember that moderation is the key. Limit your consumption, and use a natural sugar substitute such as stevia.

The Benefits of Tea

A beverage that seems to be very important in mood disorders is green tea. Green tea is second only to water as the most consumed beverage in the entire world.
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Green tea has been part of the Japanese culture for thousands of years.

Green tea contains many beneficial nutrients; however, one ingredient, L-theanine, is a unique amino acid that usually helps one to relax. In 1964 Japan approved L-theanine’s use in all foods except for baby food. Even many Japanese soft drinks, as well as chewing gums, contain theanine. I will be discussing theanine in detail in
chapter 5
as I talk about supplements to help relieve anxiety.

Years ago, a Finnish study of a large general population sample found that there was an inverse relationship between daily tea drinking (regardless of what kind of tea it was) and the risk of being depressed. They found that none of those whose daily tea intake was five cups or more had depression.
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Green tea is relatively low in caffeine content when compared to other teas and caffeinated beverage options. Since excessive caffeine should be avoided because it can contribute to insomnia, depression, and anxiety, please keep the following caffeine levels of various beverages in mind. I recommend sticking to green, white, oolong, or black teas while you are trying to overcome depression and anxiety.

Caffeine Content Comparisons
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Dietary Fat and Depression

Years ago, scientists realized there was a link between omega-3 fats and mood when they noticed that populations who consume the most seafood have the lowest rates of depression. Scientists also found that low levels of omega-3 fats may correlate with an increased risk of suicide. Omega-3 fat supplementation has also been shown to be highly beneficial in those with bipolar disorder. Studies over the years have revealed that depressed people generally have lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids compared with omega-6 fatty acids.
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