Of all mental disorders, depression is the third most prevalent
with about 8% of the population suffering from it (Robins &
Regier, 1991). It is also currently the leading cause of
disability world-wide (Murray and Lopez, 1997). The effects of
depression are varied affecting not only the patient, but family
and society as well. The Book of Job offers an early record of
depression: My eye has grown dim from grief (depression), it
grows weak because of all my foes," (Job 17:7, emphasis added).
The prophet Jeremiah wrote: "My grief (depression) is beyond
healing, my heart is sick within me" (Jeremiah 8:18, emphasis
added). The Apostles and Church Fathers also knew the
deleterious effects of depression: "Worldly grief produces
death," wrote St. Paul (2 Corinthians 7:10). The death to which
St. Paul refers is both a social and occupational death, that
is, the diminishment of function in interpersonal relationships
as well as the blocking of God's love and light in the soul that
leads to existential despair. The Ch