Maybe,
for me and my brother,
getting out of ‘religion’ and out of the church was part of our healing process.
Look, depression is genetic in my family and I can literally trace it back on both sides. BUT, coming from a very religions ‘pray about it’ or ‘think happy thoughts, count your blessings’ or even worse ‘you ungrateful weakling!’ Only made it worse. It’s like screaming at a kid with broken leg for not being able to run, much less walk....and telling them that because they aren’t praying hard enough, it will never heal.
For me, it was decades of hating myself for not ‘getting right with God’ etc. Finally, I said screw it and starting taking matters into my own hands.
Honestly, the lifesavers have been a great therapist (for all of us) and good meds. Again, prayer and church may help some, but for others, they offer more pain than help.
I'm sorry you and your brother had those bad experiences. Depression and suffering of all kinds is treated completely differently in my religion than what you describe, other than the usefulness of prayer. We accept that God gives us individualized crosses to bear and the suffering they entail. I don't mean accept in the sense that we enjoy it: the burdens can be excruciating at times, and we try to reduce the pain through medication and therapy. The unique religious aspect is that the suffering can lead to graces one might not receive otherwise (i.e. redemptive suffering). Good luck with your treatment and I hope you'll one day again come to realize that you can't do anything without God's help.
Please focus on the part of my message that addresses “faith”.
Faith is not about brow-beating.
We are here for a purpose and it is important that we appreciate that purpose.
Faith is about having a set of values and doing our best to live up to them.
Faith is about believing in something larger than ourselves and doing our best to live up to the responsibility of being fruitful with our gifts.
Faith is NOT based upon the behavior of the members of a church or religion, because those members are people with the same weaknesses that you and I have.
Faith must be rooted in the teachings of the church or religion. That is what you pray for! To understand the teachings. To understand the will of God. Not what you want.
If you’d like more discussion let’s take it off-line to limit the editorials.