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On November 11, 2016, many users logged onto Facebook only to find out they were dead. A message at the top of their Facebook page read, “We hope people who love [insert name here] will find comfort in things others share to remember and celebrate [his/her] life.” Some users went to twitter to show that…

In his book, Thanks: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make you Happier, Robert Emmons writes, “Hopelessness and despair can adversely impact the endocrine and immune systems, even hastening death. Conversely, being an optimist may help reduce your risk of dying from heart disease and other causes. A thirty-five-year…

When our lives drift away from a focus on God our lives pay the price by ending in a time, place and manner that we never intended. In March of 2015, a plane crashed in the German Alps. It seems that the Co-Pilot intentionally switched the autopilot on the doomed Germanwings plane to descend to 100 feet.…

Comedian Joan Rivers thought she had nothing left to live for. Her husband had committed suicide, her talk show had been cancelled, and her daughter wasn’t talking to her. At one point, she decided to commit suicide herself. She didn’t, instead she started lecturing on suicide prevention. She tells people,…

In early 2008, Jonny Benjamin was 20 years-old and had just been diagnosed with a debilitating mental disorder. He had dropped out of school and there was little chance that he would ever be able to hold down a job or have a family. His response was to climb out on a bridge and end it all. Just as he…

Andrew Lloyd-Webber was suffering intense pain in his leg. Fourteen surgical interventions left him in such agony he wanted to die. In his own words he said, “I went through a moment of deep depression—that awful moment when you think you must find a way out.” From there he descended to contemplating…

A federal judge sentenced a Kansas man to probation after the man admitted that he robbed a bank to get away from his wife, Lawrence Ripple wrote a note demanding money from the bank in front of his wife, and then took it to the bank and gave it to a teller. Ripple’s note also claimed that he had gun.…

Analysts say that the prolonged economic downturn is having a negative effect on the suicide rates in our country. The Centers for Disease Control announced that suicides among Americans 35 to 64 have jumped 30 percent since 1999. The biggest jump is 49 percent and affects men from 50 to 54. The figures…

The World Health Organization released a report identifying depression as “the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide.” They estimate that more than 300 million people around the world suffer from depression, compared to 212 million suffer from malaria, one of the most prevalent diseases.…

In Washington State, Vermont, Oregon, and Montana it is legal to for a physician to assist a patient commit suicide. Under this law, 83 Washingtonians died in 2012. When a person despairs to the point of having no hope suicide can look like a reasonable solution. Grace calls us rely on the sufficiency…

When a person is suffering from depression, there are times when they just can’t make their body do anything, even if they know a little exercise would be the best thing. Paige Waehner says she has helped a lot of people find the motivation to exercise, but admits that depression is especially hard to…

There is a growing trend of hopelessness, especially among the Baby Boomer generation. Mental health experts say that job loss, foreclosures, and the pressures of caring for aging parents and difficult teenagers are causing an increasing number of them to commit suicide. Between 1999 and 2010 the rate…

About 37,000 Americans end their own lives each year. This is more than die each year in car crashes. Safety improvements have cut the death toll of car crashes by 25% but suicides have kept rising. No government safety program can stop the devastation of a life hungry for meaning or lost in depression…

A Nurses’ Health Study analyzed by Harvard University researchers discovered that people who attend religious services a couple of times a week may live longer. The study was a survey of 74,534 healthy women beginning in 1992. Researchers tracked them for 20 years. By 2012, 13,537 of the women had died.…

A new study concludes regular attendance at religious services is associated with a more optimistic outlook and a lower likelihood of suffering from depression. The new results support other findings suggesting participation in religious worship and activities promotes psychological and physical health.…

The Centers for Disease Control recently released startling new information about depression in America. The CDC says roughly one in ten Americans suffers from some degree of the affliction. Though the standard of living has continued to go up, the rate of depression have also risen over the past several…

Teenagers who join the Goth subculture are at a substantially increased risk of depression and self-harm, according to a recent British study. “The longitudinal study of 3,694 adolescents found that teens who identify as Goth at age 15 are three times more likely than other teens to be clinically depressed…

A study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry says researchers in Britain and Canada have found that people who are more physically active throughout their adult years experienced fewer depressive symptoms that those who were less active. The findings echo previous research that found exercise benefits…

In Ministering to Problem People in Your Church: What to Do With Well-Intentioned Dragons, Marshall Shelley writes, “According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 25 percent of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.” --Jim L. Wilson Ministering…

Amy Winehouse sang brilliantly and became a raging success in 2006… one song she sang was Rehab, the words say, “I won’t go to rehab no no no no… I won’t go go go go…” Sadly, she lived out the message of that song and died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. She lived her last days in sorrowful and depressive…

Vangelis Kapatos, a 26 year old New York City man, decided he didn’t want to live anymore. He jumped from a ninth-story window to kill himself. It must not have been his time. He landed on his back in a pile of uncollected garbage bags. The trash bags responsible for saving his life, were piled much…

Until the time of our death, we live, sometimes even if we don’t want to. Vangelis Kapatos, a 26-year-old New York City man, decided he didn’t want to live anymore. He jumped from a ninth-story window to kill himself. It must not have been his time. He landed on his back in a pile of uncollected garbage…

A study published in the Journal “Psychological Science” says football fan’s eating habits change depending on whether or not their team wins. Researchers found supporters of the winning team tend to eat healthier than fans of a losing team. The day after a loss, a team’s fans tend to eat about 16 percent…

On the list of Top 40 musical hits of the last 50 years, today’s hits are slower, sadder, and have more negative lyrics. Peppy, upbeat songs have dwindled and the percentage of songs written in a minor key, which most listeners find gloomy, has doubled since the 1960’s. This is just opposite of what…

Research shows that “anxiety, depression, and other mental-health issues are far more prevalent among youth today than during the Great Depression.” The increase is dramatic. “On average, five times as many students in 2007 reported signs of mental illness than did those in 1938.” The reasons given for…