Have come across yet another blog by a Christian with no medical training who considers it apropriate to give out medical advice and tell a fellow believer to "stop taking psychotropic drugs" and trust in Jesus instead, because the drugs stop you from dealing with the big issue and she's hiding her sin behind the drugs.
Give. Me. Strength.
I get so very, very angry with this sort of rubbish. It's blatant ignorance and the fellow responsible should feel thoroughly ashamed of himself at dishing out that advice. It's ignorance on so many levels. Ignorance about what mental illness is. Ignorance about what the drugs do.
So, in the unlikely event that someone comes past this having read pseudo-religious mumbo jumbo on the topic, let me share a few salient facts:
1. Depression is an illness of the body.
2. All illness is a consequence of sin.
3. Depression is linked to the chemical serotonin, a mood stabiliser. Serotonin is produced by the brain, the same way the pancreas produces insulin.
4. Sometimes the wiring in the brain produces too much serotonin, leading to a false (and dangerous) sense of well-being. This is a high. "Highs" feel great...not 'normal', great. On a high you can do anything. Sleep becomes secondary to LIVING. Everything is experienced at bigger and better. Creativity is huge, speech just bubbles forth and the world is a marvellous place to be!!! Please note that feelings like this are not normal. It is not normal to go around feeling as though the world is your oyster and there is nothing you can't do. It is very, very not normal, but unless one does something *really* off the scale, like attempting to fly off the top of a building, no one notices the highs.
5. Sometimes the wiring in the brain doesn't produce enough serotonin, leading to a false (and dangerous) sense of impending doom. Every part of the body feels tired and never gets rested. The mind whirls at the speed of light. Panic sits in the pit of your stomach all day and all night. There is no rest, even though you'd do anything to be able to switch off the horrors inside your head. You don't spend all day crying (contrary to popular perception) and there is nothing that anyone can say that will make things better. You feel so far from God, so unworthy, so blackened by sin that it is impossible to believe that you could be forgiven. It is the darkest, worst pit of despair that it is possible to imagine. If this is life there is no point in living. One longs for death, but feels so separated from God that death is unthinkable, and the future stretches out like a dark tunnel with no light, no possibility of happiness, no forgiveness, no truth, just despair. This is not normal. It is not normal to feel that way.
6. The individual with untreated chemical depression doesn't actually know what it is like to feel normal. The individual with untreated diabetes doesn't actually know what it feels like to be well.
7. Diabetes is a result of the Fall, but that's its only link with sin. Likewise, depression. It's a result of the Fall, a consequence of living in an imperfect world, but that's its only connection with sin.
8. God has gifted doctors with the ability to diagnose diabetes, to find a synthetic replacement for the chemical insulin which is not produced correctly by the body, and to provide treatment to diabetics which allows them to live a relatively normal, fulfilling life.
9. God has gifted doctors with the ability to diagnose depression, to find a synthetic replacement for the chemical serotonin which is not produced correctly by the body, and to provide treatment to persons with chemical depression which allows them to live a relatively normal, fulfilling life.
10. Serotonin is NOT a mind altering drug. I think I'd know if my mind was altered. Serotonin is a mood stabiliser. Serotonin brings to highs down to normal and lifts the lows up from despair to normal. I can write all of this and be conherent and clear and NORMAL because the medications are doing something for me that my own body cannot do.
11. If you have never felt the world-conquering highs and never experienced the despair and anguish from the depths of a low, consider yourself blessed. If you are not a medical doctor with experience in treating mental illness, never, ever, ever, ever advise a person to stop taking their meds. You may be a sincere Believer, but that deosn't qualify you to diagnose or treat illness. I pray the person you advised had enough sense to consult a doctor before taking your advice. I shudder at the consequences of giving such advice to another with no knowledge or experience. The consequences could be tragic.
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