On Mental Illness:'Christians Should Not Be Afraid Of Medicine&#39

[Leonard]

Medications we use seem to help SYMPTOMS. That is a very good thing, but we as Christians need to seek God for a complete healing....

[missmuffet]

A couple years ago, a few towns away from me, there was a lady who started going to a church. She went up to an alter call for prayer one Sunday, and whoever it was who prayed with her told her to get off her anti-depressant, that she didn't need it. Less than a month later this woman murdered her two children and attempted suicide. She even killed the dog.

That is dangerous advise.

[missmuffet]

Medications we use seem to help SYMPTOMS. That is a very good thing, but we as Christians need to seek God for a complete healing....

Yes,we need both.

[Lek]

Depression and anxiety related conditions can be spiritual, mental or physical problems or a combination of all.  When treating them a spiritual approach is always warranted as with anything in our lives, but medications and therapy are also often required.  My anxiety and OCD are caused by chemical imbalances in my brain and mediation works very well.  I'm attacked by exreme anxiety no matter how my spiritual life is going.  Thankfully God has allowed us to develop medications to treat these conditions just as we use medicine to treat countless other condiitons and diseases.  Of course, all types of medications can be abused and we must be careful not to do this.  Another thing I found out with therapy is that it can be very helpful, but since therapists can be very influential, I would always find a Christian therapist with good credentials in the field.  One last thing I've discovered is that regardless of type of treatment, always go to God.  There's been those hopeless times I thought I was "going over the cliff" and it was only God's hand that pulled me back.  Despite everything else, we're ultimately reliant on God.    

[missmuffet]

Depression and anxiety related conditions can be spiritual, mental or physical problems or a combination of all.  When treating them a spiritual approach is always warranted as with anything in our lives, but medications and therapy are also often required.  My anxiety and OCD are caused by chemical imbalances in my brain and mediation works very well.  I'm attacked by exreme anxiety no matter how my spiritual life is going.  Thankfully God has allowed us to develop medications to treat these conditions just as we use medicine to treat countless other condiitons and diseases.  Of course, all types of medications can be abused and we must be careful not to do this.  Another thing I found out with therapy is that it can be very helpful, but since therapists can be very influential, I would always find a Christian therapist with good credentials in the field.  One last thing I've discovered is that regardless of type of treatment, always go to God.  There's been those hopeless times I thought I was "going over the cliff" and it was only God's hand that pulled me back.  Despite everything else, we're ultimately reliant on God.    

They are not spiritual.Having a mental illness is a chemical imbalance of the brain.Just like a person who has diabetes has an imbalance of the pancreas.No difference, it is just the brain that has the problem.

[Micheal Westin]

It appears medication is just a way of dealing with a problem that America is suffering from in much higher rates than any country on the face of the earth.

statistically no other country takes as much medicine and pharmacuiticals on a daily basis than Americans, and the same statistics show they are worse off (health wise) than many other countries

As for depression you would think people who have to eat dirt cookies and other trash and are starving to death on a daily basis would have higher rates of depression, but this also is not the case, infact its almost the complete opposite depression strikes more well to do people than the poorest in our country

[nebula]

This is a topic we have debated before, and will most likely always debate.

 

As Christians, we should always find out what is going on in a person's heart. I am of the belief that even chemical imbalances can be caused by spiritual problems and a lifestyle of "negative" thinking. That is not to deny physical problems having physical causes, but to say that just because a chemical imbalance is found does not mean the person does not have a spiritual condition behind that that needs to be healed.

 

 

I personally avoided anti-depressants because I was more afraid of potential side-effects than I did the disease.

[other one]

in some states if you are prescribed antidepressants you are legally declared mentally ill and it can affect many things in your life      a Vet can cause him/herself a lot of problems, so one should be certain that they need them.  Doctors seem to write prescriptions at the drop of a hat then treat you as if you're totally incompetent.

[LadyKay]

in some states if you are prescribed antidepressants you are legally declared mentally ill and it can affect many things in your life      a Vet can cause him/herself a lot of problems, so one should be certain that they need them.  Doctors seem to write prescriptions at the drop of a hat then treat you as if you're totally incompetent.

Crap like that is what keeps people from seeking the help they need.

[nikki1]

Big pharmaceutical companies fool the masses in America  again.

 

A Harvard Medical School psychologist, Irving Kirsch, who has been studying placebo effects for three decades, recently came up with the documented conclusion that pharmaceutical anti-depressants don't work.

 

Drug companies pay the FDA for approving their drugs. But the FDA doesn't do the trials or reports. They simply take them from the drug companies who all do their own trials and decide which reports to publish and submit.

 

Kirsch discovered that most anti-depressant trials showed no proof of efficacy. Those results were simply hidden from view. So if 12 tests were done, and only two showed any efficacy at all, those two would be submitted to the FDA, and the FDA would essentially say "pay your fee and go to market."

 

Kirsch's conclusion was featured in a national CBS 60 Minutes television report.

 

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When the pill wears off, the problem is still there.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Steve_S
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