CWN reports (subscription required) that the Pontifical Council for Health Care is conducting a conference on clinical depression today through November 15, and quotes the Council’s president:
Cardinal [Javier] Lozano Barragan said that depression may result from an intense fear of death, which finds no relief in a culture that has lost spiritual moorings. The Mexican prelate said that the Vatican seminar would focus particularly on the spiritual dimensions of the problem.
That seems a strange comment to me; I hope the cardinal didn’t mean it as a speculation about fear of death as a general cause of depression. I’m not a physician, but my impression is that there is ample evidence that genetic factors play a major role in this disease. Besides, I’d expect intense fear of death to be considered an effect of depression.
Any shrinks out there want to sort this out?
Update: ZENIT reports on the first day of talks.
I suppose it would fair to say that the spiritual truths the Church presents to man — in particular, the message of hope and God’s love in the Gospel — could be considered as helping a patient’s “cognitive therapy” — correcting the overly negative and self-critical thinking habits often experienced by depressed persons.