Dark Night or Depression? Faith, Therapy, and Healing

Jim Shoopack

Sixteenth century Carmelite mystic Saint John of the Cross wrote about the dark night of the soul, but he was actually very careful to distinguish spiritual purification from what they called melancholia back then. You know, so many Christian men I have worked with in ministry, they fall right into this trap. They hit a wall of absolute emotional exhaustion and they tell themselves, er, this is just a spiritual test, I, I, I just need to pray harder. But there is a massive diagnostic misstep happening there.

Jim Shoopack

When Saint John described the dark night, the dryness is actually localized to feeling distressed and disoriented in your relationship with God. That is the key. In a true dark night, a man is deeply pained because he desperately wants to love God, he wants that closeness, but he feels no interior warmth or sweetness in prayer. His soul aches for God, but the feeling just is not there.

Jim Shoopack

Clinical depression is fundamentally different because it brings a sweeping, generalized anhedonia. If your inability to enjoy your kids, hold a job, or care about food is part of the picture, that is not simply spiritual dryness. That is clinical depression spreading across every single domain of daily life. I, I, I remember seeing this so clearly in men's ministry. When we mislabel clinical depression as merely a lack of faith or a spiritual dryness, we force good men to double down on spiritual disciplines while their actual neurobiology is breaking down beneath them. It, it leads to deep shame, like they are failing God, when in reality their brain chemistry needs help.

Jim Shoopack

There is this deeply unhelpful theological myth that needing therapy or medication means you failed spiritually. But, er, let us look at it honestly. Seeking medical care is not a lack of faith, it is responsible stewardship of the biological body God entrusted to you. If you broke your leg, you would not just kneel down and pray for the bone to knit without a cast. You would set the bone, and you would pray for healing while using the tools available. Your brain is a physical organ, just like your heart or your kidney.

Jim Shoopack

And let us talk about the pride trap for a second. We tend to think that suffering in silent isolation is masculine self reliance. We tell ourselves we are being strong by toughing it out alone in the dark. But sitting back, hiding behind a wall of silence, that is actually the easy way out for pride. Stepping into a therapist office or walking into a doctor clinic, sitting down and saying, I, I, I cannot fix this on my own, that takes far greater fortitude. Vulnerability requires real courage.

Jim Shoopack

The path forward does not mean picking psychology over faith or faith over medicine. The most effective roadmap is a dual track approach. You integrate professional clinical care alongside spiritual direction. You treat the neurochemistry so the physical brain can function, without flattening or ignoring the soul. They work together. When you care for the instrument, the music of your spiritual life can finally ring out clearly again. If you are struggling today, please know that reaching out for medical care is not giving up on God. It might just be the very way God provides your path to healing. Take that step. Remember, it is okay to not be okay, but it's not okay to stay that way. Reach out to your spouse, your significant other, a trusted friend, your Pastor, your doctor or even a therapist. If you are in crisis, please call or text the 988 crisis hotline. The most heroic thing you can do to live the life that you are called to live - is to ask for help. I'm Dr. Jim Shoopack. Please check out my website at: www.jimshoopack.com or email me at: drjimshoopack@gmail.com. Have a great day! God bless!