Article July 11, 2005 Issue

OUT OF DEPRESSION INTO FREEDOM

By Ellen Clark Anderson

As a young adult I suffered from depression. I'd just begun to study the teachings of Christian Science to help me with various problems, including an abusive relationship and a failing business. Although the depression continued through the early years of my marriage and the arrival of our three children, my spiritual study and prayers did give me a new self-image as a child of God.

Eventually, I joined a local branch of the Church of Christ, Scientist, and it was there that I learned about an opportunity for my children to attend a summer camp where they could put into practice the spiritual truths they were learning in Sunday School and at home.

As I was driving home after having taken them to camp for that summer, a bout of depression overwhelmed me, and I was unable to rise out of it. The highway was in a broad valley where there was a strong wind rushing through. I stopped at a roadside telephone booth to call a Christian Science practitioner and ask her to pray for me. The wind was deafening, however, and conversation was impossible.