1106. How We Can Dispel Mental Illness Myths + The Story Behind the "Mental Health Hymn", in LDS Living
How We Can Dispel Mental Illness Myths + The Story Behind the "Mental Health Hymn" by Jane Clayson Johnson, excerpted from "Silent Souls Weeping: Depression—Sharing Stories, Finding Hope" | Jan. 11, 2019 Makes You Think This story originally appeared in the January/February 2019 issue of LDS Living magazine . Abraham Lincoln, arguably one of the most influential men of the 19th century, experienced several documented periods of deep depression. At one point, he wrote to a friend: “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell; I awfully forbode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible.” I can’t think of a better way to describe how I felt during the worst of my own depression. Thankfully, I no longer feel this way. But I understand—the experience of depression is ex