Most diseases, including psychological ones, have underlying spiritual roots that must be addressed for true healing to occur.

Depression is a complex manifestation, though the core issue is spiritual in nature: Depression is fundamentally viewed as the biological and psychological manifestation of conflict occurring at the spirit and soul level. Specifically, depression is linked to relationship breakdown and sin issues, primarily related to self-perception and separation from God.

There are moments when the human soul feels as though it sinks beneath its own weight, when sorrow lingers like morning mist and hope appears dim and far away. Scripture reminds us that our battles are not only flesh and blood, that the unseen realm touches us more deeply than we often realise. Depression, through the lens of Dr Henry W. Wright and the A More Excellent Way teachings, is not merely a diagnosis; it is a tender signal that something in the spirit has been wounded, silenced, or separated from the Source of life.

This understanding does not dismiss the chemical or physiological reality. It simply lifts the veil to show that behind the imbalance lies a deeper spiritual disconnection — one Christ longs to heal.

Spiritual Roots of Depression

Depression is not seen as a flaw or a failure; it is the soul’s cry for reconciliation. These teachings describe depression as the emotional and physiological expression of conflict within the spirit. When the heart is burdened by a distorted sense of self, unresolved fear, or broken connection, the body follows the lead of the inner life.

1. Self-Rejection, Self-Hatred, and Lack of Self-Esteem

A lack of self-esteem is identified as the core root problem that antidepressant drugs are designed to mitigate. Self-hatred, self-rejection, and guilt are highly damaging to the human spirit and are frequently implicated in the development of depression. The hypothalamus gland, in conjunction with the mind through the limbic system, senses spiritual and emotional problems, which leads to the reduction of serotonin levels. When serotonin levels are lowered, feelings of unloveliness are reinforced by the resulting chemical deficiency.

• This internal self-conflict causes the pineal gland to slow down serotonin secretion. If a person does not accept themselves, their body will begin to decay, as they are setting in motion the principles of death, not life.

• The spiritual foundation for depression includes unloving spirits and spirits of self-accusation.

2. Separation on Three Levels

Like all spiritually rooted diseases, depression results from separation on three critical levels:

• Separation from God, His Word, and His Love.

• Separation from yourself (by not accepting yourself, suffering from guilt, and having condemnation).

• Separation from others (breaches in relationships).

When these distances widen, the heart feels unsafe. The body responds in kind.

3. Fear, Anxiety, and the Unquiet Heart

Depression can be a byproduct of unresolved fear. Fear, anxiety, and stress are powerful forces driving people and producing long-term neurochemical responses. If a person does not feel safe, loved, or accepted, their body responds by reducing the amount of serotonin. The enemy's power to control the body's chemistry—including putting depression on a person—is achieved when spiritual dynamics are compromised by things like fear, bitterness, and guilt.

What begins spiritually becomes encoded in neurochemistry. Yet heaven has always understood that the origin lies deeper than the brain; it begins in the story of the heart.

4. Generational Legacies

Lack of self-esteem and self-hatred can be caused by a lack of nurturing in childhood, often traced to a father or mother. In the context of bipolar or manic depression, the spiritual defect is often the result of the failure of men to be proper husbands and fathers across generations, failing to provide acceptance and safety for wives and children. Familial spirits can track a family tree, reinforcing the feeling that one is not loved or accepted, thereby contributing to depression.

Patterns of abandonment, harshness, or emotional distance echo through generations.

Familial spirits reinforce the lie: You are not wanted. You are not enough. You do not belong.

Bipolar or manic depression is often described in these teachings as the fruit of many generations of men who could not, or did not, provide safety and acceptance.

Christ stands ready to break every pattern the enemy has woven through bloodlines.

The Chemical and Physiological View

The teachings acknowledge the conventional clinical definition of depression, contrasting it with the spiritual understanding:

• Clinical Definition: Depression is defined clinically as the result of a chemical imbalance in the body, specifically involving the under-secretion of neurotransmitters such as serotonin.

• The Spiritual/Chemical Link: The spiritual teaching contends that while depression manifests as a chemical imbalance, it is the underlying spiritual conflict—such as self-hatred, fear, or guilt—that causes the imbalance in the first place, often manipulating neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.

• Medication: Antidepressant drugs (like Prozac) are viewed as offering only disease management, not a cure, as they do not deal with the spiritual root. Prozac enhances serotonin's effect by blocking its reuptake, but it does not solve the root problem of why the deficiency exists. Prozac is described as a poor or cheap substitute for the peace provided by the Holy Spirit.

The Pathway to Overcoming Depression

Healing begins when the roots are gently lifted from the soil.

1. Reconciliation

• Being reconciled to God (accepting His love),

• reconciled to oneself (loving and accepting oneself),

• and reconciled to others (forgiveness).

2. Repentance

Acknowledging and repenting for the sin issue (such as self-hatred, fear or suicidal thoughts) that provides the enemy a right to one's life.

• Repentance is not punishment.

• It is a turning toward life.

• It breaks the enemy’s legal right to accuse and afflict.

3. Ownership and Authority

Taking ownership of one's life and choosing the law of God over the law of sin to defeat the temptation that influences one's physiology.

• Depression is not destiny.

• Taking ownership restores authority.

• Choosing the law of God — truth, love, and peace — uproots the spiritual forces that shaped the emotional climate.

4. Renewing the Mind

The Word of God, described as "gos pills," is the antidote to negative thinking and depression, providing life and truth to counteract the law of sin.

• Scripture becomes medicine for the soul.

• Gospel truth rewrites the pathways shaped by fear and rejection.

• The Word silences the unloving spirit and restores identity.

A Picture to Understand It

To conceptualise the relationship between the spiritual root and depression, imagine that your emotional life is like a garden, and the spiritual roots of sin (such as self-hatred or fear) are invasive weeds. These weeds don't just sit on the surface; they poison the soil (your spirit and soul). Your body's chemistry (chemical messengers like serotonin) is designed to respond to the garden's environment. If the garden is full of poisonous weeds, the body's chemistry malfunctions, leading to a visible sign like depression. Antidepressants act like fertiliser boosters, giving a temporary lift to the chemicals. Still, they do nothing to pull up the root of the weed, meaning the problem will persist unless the spiritual root is addressed.

My Testimony — Delivered From the Spirit of Heaviness

There was a time when depression was the air I breathed.

It wrapped itself around me so early in life that I came to believe it was part of my personality. I lived beneath a cloud I could not name, a heaviness that never left. Suicidal thoughts were not occasional intruders; they were familiar shadows that whispered at the edges of my days and pressed in during the nights when I felt alone and unseen.

There were seasons when I honestly did not know how I would make it through another day.

I carried blame that was not mine. I wore shame like a second skin. All the while I served, loved, raised a family, ministered, and showed up for life — yet inside, I was drowning quietly, believing that if people truly knew my thoughts, they would turn away.

I tried everything the world offered: self-help, counselling, distractions, strength, sheer will, and years of pretending to be fine. Nothing reached the root.

Everything changed when the Holy Spirit began to reveal the spiritual roots beneath the symptoms.

He uncovered the layers of self-hatred I did not even recognise as such. He exposed the fear, the inherited patterns, the rejection, the silent agreements I had made with the enemy. He showed me the generational grief I had absorbed as a child.

He did not shame me for it. He simply said, “This is not who you are.”

As I began to repent, renounce, forgive, and receive truth, something miraculous happened.

The heaviness began to break.

The intrusive thoughts lost their power.

The despair that once felt permanent started dissolving.

The cloud lifted.

For the first time since childhood, I experienced days of pure light.

Hope did not feel foreign anymore.

Peace became my normal, not the exception.

Joy returned not as a fleeting emotion but as a steady undercurrent in my spirit.

God delivered me.

Not all at once, but faithfully, layer by layer, root by root.

He replaced the spirit of heaviness with the garment of praise.

I am living proof that depression is not a life sentence.

It is not your identity.

It is not the final chapter.

Christ heals what medicine cannot reach.

He restores what was broken before you ever knew how to name it.

He delivers the captives, even when the prison bars were invisible.

I once lived in the shadows.

Today I live in His light.

That is the power of Jesus.

That is the mercy of God.

That is the testimony I carry.

Conclusion: A More Excellent Way

The thread woven through these truths is simple yet profound: our physical health is deeply connected to our spiritual well-being. Our relationships with God, ourselves, and others profoundly influence the health of our bodies.

This perspective does not reject medicine; it expands the conversation. It invites us to consider the roots beneath the symptoms, the stories beneath the pain, and the spiritual pathways that may be shaping our physical lives.

It asks a gentle but powerful question:

• Are you weighed down by physical issues that medicine has no answers for?🤔 

• What if lasting health requires not only treating the body but healing the spirit?🤔

• Could this be the more excellent way?🤔

• May I gently encourage you to consider exploring the spiritual roots that may be influencing your health?🤔

Some profoundly insightful resources that shaped my own healing journey are:

• Deliverance and Inner Healing by John Loren Sandford and Mark Sandford

• Transforming the Inner Man by John Sanford

• Elijah House Prayer Ministry

• A More Excellent Way (https://amzn.to/4p9wJCt) by Dr Henry W. Wright

• Exposing the Spiritual Roots of Disease (https://amzn.to/3XXe6pc) by Dr Henry W. Wright

You can also visit Dr Wright's Be in Health website for more teaching, testimonies, and helpful resources: https://www.beinhealth.com/

Sometimes the key we have been searching for is not in the body but in the heart — and healing begins the moment truth meets the hidden places we did not know were still hurting.

🙌 Prayer

Father God, thank You for being the One who sees into the deepest parts of my heart. Thank You for lifting me out of the heaviness that once defined me and for breaking the chains that held me captive for so many years. I praise You for replacing despair with hope, darkness with light, and confusion with clarity. I ask that You continue to heal every place within me that still needs Your touch. Wrap me in Your peace, renew my mind through Your Word, and anchor my identity in Your unfailing love.

May my testimony bring comfort, courage, and deliverance to others who are walking through the valley of heaviness. Let every word point back to Your glory, Your goodness, and Your redeeming power.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.