Day 3: The Medication Question

This post is part of a 31-day series.



Are depression and anxiety spiritual or physical?


Yes.

"I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Psalm 139:14

For those in the throes of bewildering anxiety, perhaps it especially resonates that we are "fearfully" made.  Sometimes our own moods are frightening.

Who fully understands all the serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, cortisol, and endorphins firing around our synapses, combined with an eternal soul, unique genetic makeup, individual life history, and transcendent spirit?


Ed Welsh is an author and counselor with the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation.  On the question of antidepressants, he warns, "If there's something that can give us a little bit of hope, you can see how it's so easy for us to dive in and say, 'They are our answers,' and Jesus becomes smaller and smaller and less relevant."

He continues to say that the challenge for believers, then, is, "How can Christ still be the One we turn to as the hope in the midst of our suffering?"


Agreed.  We must look past the pill to the One whose good providence provides it and makes it (perhaps) efficacious.


As for the answer to the question, however, I also agree with Dr. Welsh that medication is more a matter of wisdom than morality, and "compassion says:  if we can alleviate suffering, we alleviate suffering."


For the full 4 1/2-minute video, click here.


Next:  Sadness