Christianity and Meds
Sunday April 2, 2006
"This is a question for those out there in the Christian faith. As a Christian myself I was wondering what others thought about the use of medication to treat depression? I feel like it is impossible to know for sure if that is what God wants me to do! I have of course read many websites about Christianity and of course there are so many differing views...in fact alot of the sites I visited filled my head with more paranoia and fear that I certainly don't need with talk of demonic influence...AHHH! I am so scared and confused...so I just wanted to talk to other Christians in the same boat."--cagedheat3
Comments
We see a Christian psychiatrist. Our son has depression and ADHD and takes separate medications for both. God created Adam and Eve perfect. All the mess that follows is due to the fall. Christians need to be more real about who they are or more people will turn to Oprah than to God. There should not be any shame in taking medication for mental health improvement.
depression is just an illness, just as diabetes is just an illness. the restof our body is subject to diseases, so why not our brain too? i am a person of deep faith who has been struggling with depression for five years. it is NOT a demon, it’s just a disease. get treatment for it, you would if it was anything else. don’t suffer or delay another minute.
I agree with Darlene. Get help, and try different therapies/medications until you find the right ones for you. Jesus would want you to help yourself. Good luck and God Bless. Don’t let depression defeat you or rob you of what a Christian life should be – which is one of joy.
The three people above are right on. Your mind is an organ just like your liver, your kidneys, etc. Do you take meds for those? Do you have a headache, do you take aspirins? By all means seek a psychiatrist preferably a Christian. But, I would like to say something, you maybe in a situation someday when you need a physician and he’s not a Christian, sometimes you can’t pick and chose. I would rather go to someone who is the best, rather than a Christian who is a complete idiot. I see that in Christian Counseling a lot. They get a degree off some bogus website and they hang up a shingle and get an office and they are in business.
Yes, get help. 99% of the Pastors and support groups are inadequate to handle this type of mental illness. I would rather take the medication and let God heal me, or just sit and wait and go off the deep end waiting for God to heal me. I’m a diabetic, God hasn’t healed me yet, can he? Yes!
Will he, maybe. I certainly would like it, I don’t like taking pills. But I do it. Yes, I go up to the alter for healing. Remember if you start takings meds for brain, don’t stop until your Doctor says so, don’t listen to some moron that says “God told me, to tell you to quit taking your meds.” Not good. When and if God heals you, you will know it. Balance is the word.
Excellent site–I too always wondered about religion and meds. This site was the answer I needed. Thanks!!
I was wondering the same thing? I have had 2 bouts with depression over the past year and I have taken medication and I’m so glad I did! I feel like God gave me a great Christian counselor who was wise in instructing me to get meds to help and God has given me my old life back! Sheila Walsh is a wonderful christian author and singer and talks about her depression in one of her books I strongly reccommend you looking for them. God Bless you and do what you need to do to get better. Our God is a loving God!
The brain is just as subject to a disease as any other part of our bodies. The previous statements are right on. The Lord never gives us anything that we can’t handle but He never says that we have to handle it alone. I truly feel that He put people like the scientists and doctors in the world as a form of help to those of us who are struggling with things like depression. While satan will try to get us away from God as far as our walk is concerned when we become Christians we cannot be posessed or taken control of by demons. Where God is the demons cannot also be, He and they cannot dwell in us at the same time. Please don’t be disuaded to seek help by people trying to downplay depression. It is a potentially very serious disorder and you should make an informed decision on what type of help to get or what type of medication to take but please, don’t feel hindered about getting the help that you need.
The above reponses are great. Depression is an illness, not a weakness or lack of faith. You probably wouldn’t hesitate to suck on a cough drop to relieve that cold symptom- this is no different. It is a condition that needs treatment- seek the help as you would with any other illness. I’m sure those who might disagree don’t refuse gas or novacaine at the dentist. One little side note; I try to help others as often as I can- there is great reward, and it keeps my mind on someone other than me…..this isn’t meant as a treatment for depression- but as a lttle ‘pick-me-up.”
I agree with every one above. Over the past few years, I have had bouts with depression. I have only sought help since last year. I feel so much better since I have been taking the prescribed medication. I feel free from the torment that I had been going through due to so many negative pressures in my life. Of course, my family thinks that I should not take the meds, but I feel that depression is just as serious as any other illness. I suffer from HBP, and no one says “do not take your meds”. How is depression any different? I take the meds and pray that God will deliver me from this illness as well as other physical illnesses I have. I suggest that you do the same.
May God bless and keep you.
Hey guys, I have suffered from Depression for about 4 years. I was on illegal drugs a high percentage of the time through High School.I eventually accepted Christ as my Lord and savior and was healed of depression while I was on meds and everything. I have been on meds for 2 years until recently, when a group of christians tried to heal me at my Bible College. It was some what a deliverance. Ever since then I have really been suffering from depression and now am starting to realize that it was because I had a mental illness. But at the same time God’s word has been an amazing help to my health. I am starting to gain a better biblical worldview, and its hard, but its starting to happen a little bit. But not everyone completly has one of these world views and I guess at that point Im trying to gain a little bit of knowledge on How I should be thinking as a christian, and especially if i should go back to meds. I still somewhat suffer from depression and notice how it effects me with friends and relationships. Any advice, Im just wondering if I truly need to look into more bible therapy or maybe just counseling im trying to figure out, what would be glorifying to the Lord
Reading the comments above brought me a sense of peace.
I have struggled with depression for years and like the above poster turned to drugs for a period in my teens. I’m 25 now and have been clean & sober for over 5 years. For the first 16 months, I focused on God and service. That helped, but I eventually decided I needed more help for my depression. I took medication for a few months, but ended up thinking that just God alone would be enough. The depression came back, and for months more, I struggled, telling myself that it was part of God’s way of making me more pliant, of making me more open to his will. I saw it as my cross, so to speak. Despite my best attempts to get closer to God and to learn more about his will, the depression worsened, relationships suffered, and, most importantly, my ability to be of service suffered.
I ended up getting back on medication to help me stop smoking (three years ago in May). While taking the medication, I realized that my depression was greatly relieved, so for over two years, I continued to take it.
My life improved greatly, I got engaged, and decided to try and give back to my country through the service. Anti-depressants are not generally accepted in the service (when given for long-lasting depression), so I thought I had built up enough positive life experience that I could take it. This was about 5 months ago. At first, exercise and positive thinking seemed to help. But, little by little, it started getting harder to wake up in the morning.
I recently got baptized again, and I started being less hard on myself. I started letting Jesus show me how to treat myself with more love. Part of that love has been realizing that I have a responsibility to take care of my body. That includes getting orthotics and having my wisdom teeth pulled (two things I’ve put off for a long time). It also has included getting back on anti-depressants.
This has been a long road for me, but like the above comments said, I have a disease. If there were another way, I would have found it, but this is the easier and softer way. My life and the life of my fiancee, friends, and family are all improved when I can do three things: (1) admit I need help, (2) get that help, and (3) give freely of the rewards I receive from that help.
God bless.
I am a graduate of a Bible college and a seminary. I am a musician. I am a writer. I have mental illness and take medication for it as I do for some physical illnesses like diabetes and hypothyroidism and GERD. If I were not on meds I would function less well and would not be able to use the gifts and talents God has given me to be of service and to continue to try to conform to the images of Christ.
It’s interesting that nobody has mentioned that Luke, one of the gospel writers of the Bible was a physician. God used physicians then and he uses them now, including psychiatrists. Depression and other mood disorders, anxiety disorders and many other mental illnesses can respond successfully to medication. Depression is so much more than the grief and sadness that we all experience when we suffer a loss. It is not a weakness. If there are treatments that God has allowed us to discover and use, we would be doing less than what He wanted by not taking them, by not doing our best with what we are given.
Most of the comments I have read here are positive and that is, I believe, a testimony to how far we have come and are coming as Christians.
God has already healed all of you, it was already done through Jesus! No longer ask the illness but command it to leave. That’s what Jesus name does doesn’t it? If it doesn’t have that authority then whats the point in using it? Jesus name doesn’t have partial authority over some sickness he has ALL authority over death. That is the whole gospel message.
BUT be open to hearing what God wants you to do, God works in mysterious ways and sometimes he asks us to do weird things, sometimes that may be medication. So take drugs only if God tells you to. If he doesn’t and you take them, you are no longer relying on the power of God to heal you but the power of man which is worthless, however God that will not seperate the love of God from you, so you may be healed. Just make sure you leave room for God to move.