Depression is real. According to the World Health Organization in its 2017 statistics, more than 300 million people are battling depression, and 3.29 million of them are Filipinos. Depression is a leading cause of suicide. The records of the National Statistics Office show that the suicide rate in the Philippines is 2.5 for men and 1.7 for women per 100,000 population.

The Bible teaches us to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Other English Bible translations say, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” This means that we ought to love ourselves also. Furthermore, this presupposes that we cannot fully love our neighbors if we do not love ourselves.