By Andy Hale 

Over the past two decades, the use of antidepressants has skyrocketed. One in six Americans now takes an antidepressant medication. Nearly 40% of Americans reported in 2018 that they were more anxious than in the years past. Almost 18% of the American population has an anxiety disorder.

Three out of four Americans reported that they had experienced at least one stress symptom in the last month. The leading cause of stress today is money, work, health, relationships, sleep deprivation, the political climate, and the future.

The leading results of this stress are poor nutrition, sleep deprivation, failing health, and mental health struggles.

And then there is depression. “Depression is like drowning in an endless void of a dark ocean,” Ryan Noel Fraser described on the CBF Podcast.

We sat down with the author of Overcoming the Blues: Finding Christ-Centered Hope and Joy through Serving Others to discuss why the church might need to rethink its theology of depression as “just pray, believe, and it will all work out.”

Dr. Fraser directs the Masters in Pastoral Care and Counseling program at Freed-Hardeman University.

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Andy Hale created and hosts the podcast of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Hale is the senior pastor of University Baptist Church of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following eight years as the founding pastor of Mosaic Church of Clayton and five years as CBF’s church start specialist. Follow on Twitter @haleandy