Antidepressants. Use them?

Many people in the medical community believe that mood disorders reside in a person’s psyche, and there are times when a chemical imbalance could be the cause. When this is the case, medicine is usually prescribed to help offset the imbalance, and this is followed, for the most part, by a reduction of the symptoms. Do I believe that the use of medicine in these types of cases is antithetical to God’s word? No. I believe that God has allowed us to increase in our medical knowledge, and that He can use that knowledge in the healing process. However, does God need us or medicine to heal? He absolutely does not need any help. God has chosen to allow the progression of medical knowledge, and nowhere in scripture are we told not to use that knowledge. But there is a balance between using medicine for healing and relying on it for daily living. The Apostle John writes these words,

¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14 (NIV)

God is the Great Physician, and He alone holds the power to cure. God should always be first when we are searching for healing. Medicine used to treat depression should only be used to the degree that it allows the person to deal with the source of the ailment. The purpose of medicine should be to give control back to the person suffering from the disorder. When it is used in order for the sufferer to avoid facing the true cause of the problem, they are not facing their responsibility, and they are denying God’s healing. At this point the use of medicine does become sinful because it is based on selfishness.

To summarize my beliefs I will say that I believe with the use of medicine on a limited basis in order to treat symptoms followed by relying on the Word of God and wise counsel the need for the medicine should diminish over time. God can heal supernaturally and miraculously. We should always pray that He will heal, but we need to remember that God also heals through doctors and medicine.

"Si vales, valeo"
If you are well, I am well

T

Anxiety!

The origins of GAD, panic disorder, phobias, PTSD, and OCD can be bio-psycho-social. They all tend to be fear/anxiety based. For the most part those fears and anxieties cause significant impairment of the person’s day to day functioning privately as well as socially. With PTSD being the exception to the rule, most of these anxieties begin early in life with GAD and phobias tending to grow for less acute beginnings. Most of the disorders are prevalent in younger populations, but GAD is most commonly seen among the elderly. Combined statistics show anxiety disorders to affect less than 13% of the population. OCD seems to affect the least number at 2.6%, while social phobias run close to 13%. Public speaking is thought to be the number one social phobia. Now for the interesting part of this study, it appears as if women are disproportionately affected by anxiety disorders. However, I would like to do a study using different variables because, in my opinion, the average man is much less forthcoming about his emotional wellbeing than the average woman. I personally believe the numbers may be skewed for several reasons. Among those reasons might be that men tend to try to put on a macho image that will usually manifest itself devoid of fear. Women tend to be much more honest about their fears. Both of these ideas are based on the social norms within our culture. Finally, all of the disorders mentioned respond best to cognitive-behavior therapy. Meds can be used for some, but the relapse rate upon ceasing the medication is high for all of the disorders.
I have often been told I have OCD. Hopefully those comments are in jest. Like most people I worry was too much about things I cannot control. Here is a great illustration I have used from time to time,
One morning Death was walking into a city when a man stopped him and asked what he was doing. Death answered, “I’m going into the city to kill 10,000 people.” The man replied, “That’s terrible that you would kill 10,000 people.” Death responded, “Taking people when their time has come is my job. Today I have to get my 10,000.” Later, as Death was coming out of the city, the man met him. Again, he was furious. He said, “You told me this morning that you were going to take 10,000 people, but 70,000 died today.” Death answered, “Don’t get mad at me. I only took 10,000. Worry killed all the rest (Robinson 1991).

As far as my misconceptions about dissociative disorders go I have been amazed that they exist in such a small portion of the overall population. Spending as much time with large groups of people as I have done through the years makes me wonder if I don’t know a disproportionately large percentage of the stated percentage! Christians seem to worry as much, if not more, than people I know who do not know Jesus Christ. Personally, I link that fact to “works theology,” which is a faulty theology at best, and a sinful yoke at worst. Christians believe that God is a cosmic kill-joy with mountains of rules. The Bible teaches just the opposite by telling us that there is nothing we can do to earn Heaven, and we should lay our worries at the feet of the Lord.
After this study, I will be less inclined to move to this type of disorder so quickly. With so few people in this category it would be prudent to entertain more options for a diagnosis. These disorders, mentioned in chapter 4, would be very easy to use as quick fixes to problems that could be much deeper.

Final Thought:
The poet Robert Frost (1874–1963) wrote, “The reason why worry kills more people than work is because more people worry than work.”

Do you believe this?

What do you think he meant by “work?”

Haddon W. Robinson, What Jesus Said About Successful Living (Grand Rapids: RBC, 1991), 221.

"Virtus, non copia vincint"
Courage, not multitude wins

T