[...] thought provoking piece from Michael Patton on anti-depressants. Make sure you read down to the bit where he ponders what Luther would have been diagnosed [...]

By the way: no one can fully diagnose you, just by reading your blog; go to a professional for a serious diagnosis. Anything else constitutes professional psychiatric malpractice.

This is an issue that I have very strong feelings about and I’m glad to see the subject addressed.

I think that in America we have bought the lie that anything negative in our lives is bad. Problem is, a lot of the negative stuff in our lives is brought about by our actions, attitudes, and response to life. Life is hard. Sometimes it gets us down. Sometimes it gets us really down.

It’s easier to take a pill than it is to seek the Lord and ask Him to search our heart and help us through. It’s easier to take a pill than it is to learn to pray through a problem until you can stand up and shout, “It is done!” because you’ve finally found the strength to grab your answer by faith. It’s easier to take a pill than to search out the word and see what God says about the feelings we’ve experiencing or the problem we’re having.

The American church seems to have abandoned God in this area, seeking simpler solutions to tough problems and looking for pills to make us feel better. I once had a psychotic breakdown. I also suffered deep depression and anxiety. I took psychotropics and they turned me into a zombie. So, I gave that all up and began to seek God and I found that He had answers to all my questions and that by faith I could take hold of God and He would pull me out of the pit. I’ve been in the pit many times and every time, God has pulled me out.

Someone should be shouting from the pulpit that GOD IS GREATER than anything we suffer, experience, or feel. God is greater. He is able. What’s impossible with men is possible with God. Faith is what pleases him, so if you want him to answer your prayers, you have to grab a hold of faith, even if it’s just the size of a mustard seed. While there may be a time when someone has to take a pill, I can assure you that it is more worthwhile to grab a hold of God and cry out to him and search his Word until He answers and lifts your heart.

We spend so much time in Egypt. What a waste!

Allan, thanks so much. No worries on my end. I knew it was a difficult issues and that there would be much disagreement. Michael is great and I am always pleased with what is going on over there at PP.

Got to have thick skin to be in this buisness!

Michael

Final sentence… “I’m sorry for the pain you have experienced.”

Michael Patton, I am one of those who posted on the Phoenix Preacher regarding your article. I was one who was angered by what I read. The owner of the blog did post and told us to ramp it down as he explained where you were coming from. PP is a good place but can get “cranky” at times.

I want to offer you a direct apology for any part I played in causing you any type of distress or whatever emotion you experienced reading the comments.

This is a topic that I don’t see ever being settled to the satisfaction of everyone. The topic can be very polarizing. I would like to share about myself a little and where I fit into all of this.

I am a believer who suffers with Agoraphobia and Panic Disorder. As a result of this I have suffered a few major bouts of depression. I have been told by a former Pastor that I was in sin. I had a person try to cast demons out of me. I have been told to trust God and lean on His promises. That hurts.

I have suffered panic attacks so terrorizing I thought I was going insane or would die on the spot. I almost became home bound and am on Social Security because I can’t hold a job. But God is working in a very personal way in my life and things are improving.

I started a blog maybe 18 months ago. My goal is to reach out to believers who are suffering with a mental illness by offering a safe place to visit, articles to read, and various resources for them to go through.

In the midst of these conversations it’s easy to lose track of the scores of believers who suffer in silence because they feel second class or even complete failures as Christians. They are too ashamed to share their pain because so many will tell them they are the problem in one fashion or the other.

These believers need hope. They need understanding. They need to feel safe among their brothers and sisters.

Some of these people may need professional counseling and others may need medication. At the same time some simply need a friend they can feel safe with to pour their heart out to and then to be accepted and encouraged. Others may need Pastoral counseling. Some may need to repent of sin in their lives.

This won’t happen if they are too afraid to share with other believers. Many have done so and have been hurt terribly. Their open wound had salt poured into it by well meaning folks and some who just won’t consider the reality of mental illness.

If we speak of depression then we also must speak of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Bi-Polar Disorder, Schizophrenia, OCD, anxiety, and so on.

I have seen Godly men and women filled with the love of God who suffer with Bi-Polar for example. I have watched vibrant, loving, knowledgeable believers reach the point that they actually consider suicide as their only way out. That type of pain is beyond words. We as a body have failed so many innocent victims with our judgmental attitudes and indifference.

There is balance to be found. I’m sorry for the…

Question: Is it possible that depression is often something that accomplishes the will of God more than being “happy”?

My humble answer: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And thank you for asking it. How prone we are to cheap substitutions for Joy.

Psalm 42

My only credentials are that right now one of my best friends and my wife have been on anti-depressants for years. My friend ‘s diagnosis has been changed to bipolar so his meds have changed.
Years ago I lived with three different people who have been institutionalized at different points.

The first error in your thinking is that people taking meds are made happy by taking them. They are not. At best the overwhelming effects of depression or whatever are curbed.

Having said that, we all medicate in some way. Coffee, exercise, sex, sunlight, alcohol, music, massage, ect. It is a question of are we crossing a line in our choice of medication.

In my opinion, if you are more likely to be a jerk to your spouse when you don’t drink a cup of coffee in the morning, then maybe you are sinning by not medicating.

If your mood offends thee……

Doctors are often way too quick to parcel out drug and experiment with people too lightly, but that is a seperate issue.

At this rate, this blog entry is going to make the top 20 soon

CMP

Isn’t the suffering of the cross normal for Christians? Isn’t the dark night of the soul something we should not be too quick to avoid or prescribe meds for? Isn’t it often good to be depressed?

True. We have had a lot of family troubles / sufferings for the last 10 years. And as we overcame each and every challenge, we realized in hindsight how God sustained us through them and how we are now able to share our experiences with others. Recently we’ve even been able to counsel another Church family on what to do, where to go and what resources are available out there. And Mary (my spouse) and I smiled at each other and went… “There is some good that can come out of the suffering we went through”. Even if it is just to be able to spare some others the same suffering.

But I can also tell you that without the tremendous support and prayers of body of believers we wouldn’t have made it. We still wouldn’t make it with the current challenges. And perhaps that’s lacking here and there. And perhaps that’s a reason why people grab for the easy fix.

A burden shared is a burden less heavy.

So yes, we overprescribe, yes we can philosophize over it, but what can you or I do to help others so perhaps the need for the medications can be balanced out.

J.R.
I’m sure Paul was a way stronger Christian and prayer warrior than I will even be or even can aspire to be. Yet I also do know he was not alone during his imprisonment. God works and very often he uses us as a vessel.

Hope this can help
In Him
Mick

CMP wrote:

How do we define “normal”? Not depressed?

Isn’t the suffering of the cross normal for Christians? Isn’t the dark night of the soul something we should not be too quick to avoid or prescribe meds for? Isn’t it often good to be depressed?

I don’t believe “normal” as far as people go, can be defined.

But, concerning the suffering of the cross, Christians should consider it normal to suffer and to be depressed for that cause from time to time. I see all types of suffering and probably depression throughout the NT for the cross, but there again I see great joy in them through their suffering as well. 1 Thess. 2:17-3:9.

How would you Michael, counsel someone who has lost a husband through suicide because of financial misfortune as that being a suffering of the cross?