Tasha Cobbs Says Churches Need to Focus More on Depression
Tasha Cobbs has never shied away from speaking about her battle with depression, but now she wants churches to do the same thing.
In an interview with Essence magazine, the 34-year-old "Jesus Saves" singer detailed her own battle with depression. Although she helped lead worship at her church, her struggles with sad feelings while growing up spiraled into full-blown depression.
"I could get up and sing and watch people be delivered and set free and experience freedom in their lives, and yet I would go home and be under the covers, with the curtains closed, not eating, never coming out of my room for days at a time. My cousin Shaniqua — who was my roommate at the time — knew the routine," she revealed to Essence. "This time I had been in the bed for three or four days and I hadn't left my room. The house was completely dark; curtains closed, and the sadness was so heavy in that house that she literally moved out and moved into my pastor's house for that week because it was just too heavy for her."
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Cobbs said she would cry for hours without truly understanding why, believing that people were only using her for her gifts. However, a tugging in her spirit caused Cobbs to seek professional help.
"During that time, something in my spirit said, 'Tasha, you have to do something about this.' It was just a moment where I felt like I couldn't move forward in my career and in my ministry if I kept allowing myself to be in this place," she revealed. "I thought, 'At some point somebody is going to find out and it's going to get much bigger than what I'm able to handle.' So I got up to do some research and I started studying depression."
After calling her cousin and pastor, the singer began speaking to a therapist who diagnosed her with depression. Still, she acknowledged that speaking about getting therapy outside of the church is not a common occurrence in the church community.
"Our culture and churches in general, should put more focus on depression and people who struggle with mental health," she said. "From what I've experienced in sharing my testimony with different people, it's something way more prevalent than we acknowledge, and I am willing to stand on the frontline as a leader in our culture and address the mental health issues we have been ignoring."
Now, the Georgia native recognizes healthy ways to deal with her depression. Last year, she spoke to The Christian Post about her single "Jesus Saves" documenting how God helped her overcome that hardship.
"The song actually just brings me back to that place where Jesus saved me. I think I talk about that a little, but throughout your life He saves you from different things that you may struggle with," she told CP. "He breaks those chains throughout your life and that's where that [song] came from. I remember when He saved me from depression and rejection in 2007. And every time I minister that song now, it takes me back to that place where I was a minister of the Gospel and struggling and Jesus saved me from that."
