Depression

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Just a few comments and questions from this corner. 

>Refusing the doctor's ministrations when my infant son is
>seriously ill is quite likely MURDER.  

I agree.

> And that very well might be the case for severely depressed people who are
>advised by well-meaning people to discontinue their anti-depressant medication.  

Insofar as we reject the notion that behavior is the sum result of
moods, and uncontrolled biochemical and neurological interactions, I
cannot concur here. There must be *some* qualification.  Personal
experience has taught me that people can be prescribed medication as
the result of an emotional appeal to a "well meaning" doctor having a
legal recourse in pharmocology (gramatically linked by scripture to
the practive of witchcraft.) 

Before I was saved I personally sought out "medication" with visits to
doctors, and was quite easily given access to various medications
through complaining about being unhappy, depsondent, unsatisfied,
anxious, restless, oncessive, fearful ... etc, etc. Was I ? Sure. Why
? Something to do with my life, as I now know.

> Untreated severely depressed ndividuals have a 50% mortality rate from suicide.

This statistic is by nature misleading. It seems obvious that there is
no statistical record of the number of "severely depressed" people who
are untreated. In all likelihood such a pseudostatistic is derived
largely from people attaching a post-mortem diagnosis to suicide 

Furthermore, as callous as it may seem, suicide is simply another
terrible sin, the sin of murder. You might ask yourself, who would
kill themselves unless in severe distress ? We should also ask, who
would kill another unless similarly troubled by demonic influences ?
How many have committed crimes while troubled or disturbed ? Did this
somehow suggest that there was some other remidy for my sin than the
grace of God and the cross of Calvary ?

Pardon my passion, but I find myself living in a world where it is not
uncommon for me to meet parents who easily tell me that their children
are affected by ADD, and have altered thier childrens behavior with
Ritalin. The same parents are not as quick to indicate that their own
balance is largely owed to Prozac, commonly if not humorously refered
to as a miracle drug, like Ritalin.

The uncanny irony of this is that by all accounts I have now, and have
always had textbook ADD and a whole lot of other clinical maladies. I
dont complain and dont say this either lightly or for any sympathy,
but I find the entire world of modern pharmacy scarier than any "chip
implant" by a LONG SHOT.

>If I have a medical condition which can be treated I will
>probably follow the advice of my phsycian and take the
>medications prescribed to me.  I will also go before the elders
>at the church and ask for prayer and have them lay hands on me.

I think there is some misconception regarding the perceived conflict
between medical treatment and faith. Of course, we are aware of the
stereotypical images of "faith healers" and the abuses which have gone
before us. We are also alert to the newworthy mention of the children
of Christian Scientists and other cultic groups who see a major
conflict. 

Nevertheless, most everyone who is sensible questions this, and
rightly so. We have forerunners who would not take an asprin, and saw
God miaculously deliver time after time. One very famous Apostolic in
the OK area died of cancer without remidy for pain, after many
healings. He never demanded that anyone else do as he had done, but
set an example of relying solely on God. I will never pronounce his
life to have been misdirected. I am not sure I would or could do the
same, but I am glad to know that there have been good men and women
who did not cling to life with such great determination that they did
not have a greater passion for their convictions. 

Does there need to be a conflict ? Not always, but some exists, as
with any domain in which there is an easy vs a faithful way of
deliverance. Lets be honest, shall we ?

The only real scripture reference for the conflict derives from the
following passage:

2Ch 16:12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was
diseased in his feet, until his disease [was] exceeding [great]: yet
in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.

I guess some could read this as a sort of a condemnation. I do. It
would not be sound to say that medical treatment is ungodly, but it
would be equally unsound to deny that the Word of God does bring a
question concerning our focus in times of trouble.

>Mental illness is no different: they are medically treatable
>illnesses, with research showing a very high likelihood of a
>strong biological component.

That is the modern concept. However, we notice that there is still
rampant depression and mental maladies. Smallpox is rare. Will
unhappiness and the sense of spiritual emptiness become as obsolete
with the use of spiritual tools which the greeks called pharmacy, and
the 

>For example, heart disease is very often accompanied by
>depression, although other similarly traumatic/life threatening
>conditions don't lead to severe depression.  This suggests a
>link that is not merely "in the mind."

On the contrary, it suggests to me just what all people with
metaphysical orientation have always believed: that is, the organic
function of the body is spiritually influenced. The bodies health can
often be a depiction of inner spiritual condition. Notice that I did
not say always or inevitably. There are many instances of sickness
which are simply the consequence of environmenal, bacteriological and
genetic "mishaps". But, depression is OFTEN the result of spiritual
problems, and can, no WILL almost always become a victim of a powerful
and lasting experience with God.

IN this, I am bringing the main point. I have always believed and even
more than every today believe that the gospel transforms and changes a
person if given a chance to work. This may not be instantaeous, but
our experience is perfected by the power of God, and not by meats or
drugs. The spiritual condition and the mental condition of a person
are, in the final analysis, the same thing. Unless we conceed this, no
matter how painful to our modern sophistication, we have relegated the
words love, joy and peace to a place in the appendix of mental health
workers.

Through the gospel the name of Jesus Christ can and will deliver, and
set any person at liberty. This will be seen as primitivism, and many
will point to people who they know who are good Christans and take
various drugs. May I say to you that this was one reason that I also
drank before I knew the Lord ? Where is the wisdom in living in
compromise simply because the society and technology have posed moral
problems ? These challenges only further set apart the Apostolic. We
do not need to counsel abstinence from all medication to be able to
reject dependancy on these subtle spiritual vampires.

>Other evidence: research shows a very high rate of recovery for
>depressed patients on a anti-depressant medication.  Personal
>counseling, group therapy, psychoanalytic counseling -- these
>have the same effect as a placebo; i.e. they don't work.
>Medication works, counseling doesn't work.
>
>Anti-depressants are not Happy Pills -- they do not change the
>mood of the person taking the medication like speed or cocaine
>will.  In fact, they have zero effect on mentally healthy
>people, and there is no illegal market for anti-depressants.

That is out and out incorrect. Whatever source this came form is
wrong. I know of people who pass them around like candy. Furthermore I
have taken some, a few years after I was saved - on a bad day when a
relative recommended that I needed to "chill" an offered me thier
"medication" (anti-depressant).  There was a very significant
reaction, and I will NEVER do it again. I'd rather see Christians play
the lottery than get to think that perfect peace is the promise of
those who "keep their mind on Prozac".

>People with clinical severe depression are *always* feeling
>"sad," and anti- depressants work by making these people feel
>"normal."  Anti-depressants are not addictive.  

Yes, they certainly are. People become completely dependant upon them
and are further crippled by the fear of what might happen if they were
ever to have to stop taking them. I am personally working with several
people who have a Holy Ghost experience, and are still on a pile of
pills and a couple feel exactly the same way about the cigarettes. Not
only has the doctor precribed the various anti-depressants, but has
also confirmed that a witdrawl from the cigarrettes would require an
increase in the medication, so they strike a balance, and these
individuals believe this. Don't get excited, for them to even consider
reducing their medication would take a major act of God working
against their own will power at the moment. We live in a society which
suggests that dependancies are completely normal for many people, and
yet demands individuality and "liberty", and the drugs are used to
achieve a phoney synthesis.

Actually, most of the people who the Lord has sent us to minster to
have some bunch of medication. I really believe that the medication is
most of the problem of a couple of people. Having 

> They apparently work by restoring the balance of certain neuro-transmitters in
>the brain (most notably serotonin, though not all anti-depressants work the same).

I advise you and all others to read a little more.. The fact is that
you know about as much concerning the absolutes of the activity of
anti-depressants as anyone.

>As Brother Brown cautioned, be VERY SURE you are hearing from
>the Lord when telling somebody to throw out their medication.

Who can argue with this? And the reasons are not only moral. There are
profound legal reasons for restraining on almost ALL counsel nowadays.
Of course no threat will cancel out the idiots who claim to speak for
God. However threats do tend to result in some prophets hanging out in
caves (1 Kings 18:4). <---  ( a little bible study there )

>Make sure you are not merely speaking from your own biases
>against medical treatment of mental illness.

We have a number of biases. We used to call them convictions, but
evidently we are in a world where the sense of godly men and women is
being subjected to an x-ray at the local mental health clinic.

-mwb