Denial and Emotional Health

I wonder at times if depression is a failure of my denial system. In other words, is a minimum level of denial necessary for emotional health? By seeing things too clearly, too realistically, do I set up a depression grounded in the hopelessness of the human condition? Are rose-colored glasses necessary for a life in a Pollyanna world in order to avoid depression? This thought is not really mine, but was first posited by none other than Sigmund Freud, or so I am told by a mental health professional.

This is not too far from the reality of humanity, in general, as I observe it today. Those who seem oblivious to reality around them often seem happiest. While those caught up in staring down every shadow in every corner seem nearly possessed, and depressed by what is revealed.

In a society caught up in financial collapse the looming reality of having to do with less, or losing everything, is causing many to panic. Fear of loss is causing otherwise sensible people to compromise beliefs and values in order to hang onto what they feel is justly theirs. A denial of their vulnerability to economic ebb and flow changes their behaviors, and so becomes a new belief system. Confusion about love and the role that security and comfort play creates a need for denial, and the acceptance of situations that compromise my (any one's) belief in God's word.

And yet among some who are very in tune with reality there is no sense of panic, or any anxiety or depression I can observe. They live at peace in this world, free of emotional turmoil and compromise. There is no denial. What do they have that allows them to live that way? Or have they already lost everything and so with nothing left to lose they have nothing to fear?

Hope and salvation are what seem to power those individuals. While my health has been trending downward for some time now and the current bout of cancer and other esophageal problems have had me doubled over in pain periodically I can still praise God for the miracle of my life. Even when it seems that all I have left is my life I know this to be untrue.

We all have something left to lose. Only the dead have nothing remaining but their remains.
I don't know all the machinations surrounding the entrance to heaven. I do know that I side with the body of believers that hold to scripturally based teachings indication that I could still lose my salvation. "On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not.....' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers.'" (Matt 7:22-23)

The use of the term, "Lord, Lord" indicates these people believed in Him. Yet He will send them away. Frankly, this is, and should be, a frightening thought to me. And it should be to any who have professed belief in Jesus yet remain unchanged.