THE BLACK BOX
The black box is Crowell’s life skills term for depression. When defeating the dreaded enemy, the silent stalker called depression requires both accurate diagnosis and prognosis.
Sir Winston Churchill spoke of the black box as a metaphor for his depression. Winston, in spite of his brilliance, was prone to depression.
If present-day research is even close, approximately 50% of our USA population is experiencing some form of depression.
Let me explain my imagination of the black box. The black box is a very large metal container about 15 feet deep and about 8 x 8 wide. There are no ladders or ropes to climb out of the box once you reach the bottom.
The amazing thing about the black box is that each person digs their own unknowingly. Once they have dug too deep, they find they have no way to escape. They have become hopeless. They are trapped.
This is the best description I know of severe depression. The tragedy is the person at the bottom of the pit had no idea they were digging their way to depression.
Only after a depressed person has been in the black box, to get out of the black box they must be willing to do the hard work of diagnosis and prognosis, then they will understand how they got there in the first place. This is the greatest guarantee they will not enter the black box for a second or third time.
Yet further studies reveal that once one falls into the black box and gets out it is likely they will enter for the second time and also a third time.
This follows the rule that if you don’t fix the problem, the problem will repeat itself over and over, the very definition of insanity.
The reason so many are in a depression in America is because there are no easy answers or fixes. Too often drug prescriptions are the only remedy people are taking. This may be an important step, but it is simply treating the symptom not the root problem.
Coaching basketball and being a family and marriage counselor has given me some insights into depression. There is hope. There is a way out of depression.
The first step is to never ever quit believing you can get out of the black box. Seek help.
For the past 48 hours I have been in a quiet place, a place of solitude, asking, “Lord what would you have me do with the rest of my life?”
May the God of hope bless you and protect you and keep you strong.
