Treading upon a delicate subject for many Christians...

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For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.- 2Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

I will try to tread lightly here because no subject this side of love makes Christians abandon their bibles faster than what the world refers to as mental illness. The few times I have tried to weigh in biblically the pro-medication Christians rose up quickly to defend their savior, psychotropic drugs. That is not said tongue in cheek or snarkily. It is how they represent themselves. They offer no proof other than personal experience and most swear they might not even be alive if it were not for the pills. I do not question their statements. They have no reason to lie. They felt one way one day and after taking the pills they felt another way. Instead of considering what scientists call a placebo effect, all credit was given to the medication. Jesus comes in a distant second and usually only through the seven degrees of separation argument. Scientists made the drugs and God made the scientists therefore, God made the drugs. That of course is a logically weak argument and not supported biblically either.

Let me start with a simple question. If you were depressed and went to a doctor who recommended taking a pill but warned you that it carries with it a 15% self-mutilation rate and increases suicide ideation -- would you take it? When Prozac first came out that was the self-mutilation rate. That remains a problem today with all Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI's). Now I recognize that some would still take the pills. I get it. I also recognize that some might feel better after taking them. That however is YOUR experience. I take no issue with you telling your experience but when it ventures into the area of pretending to be righteous I draw the line. You see, God does not resolve problems with a 15% self-mutilation rate. He really doesn't. God does not cover up your sadness by increasing your suicidal ideation. Check my math biblically if you think I am wrong. The above link is to an article from a Christian psychotropic medication advocate. Her story highlights some very important things the church should discuss and do better. It also contains an overall dangerous message that must be confronted. So let us reason again together:

"Katie Dale, a speaker and blogger at BipolarBrave.com, advocates for Christians' rights to see a therapist and take medicine for mental illness. Having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 16, she says she started her blog to help raise awareness about the reality of mental illness, which for her, was hereditary. So what about Christians who say medication isn't an option?

"When you have the blues, and you're going through a dark time, or you got a stronghold going on, there is that spiritual element of warfare. But to [say] a blanket statement of 'You don't need medications' is very dangerous," Dale says. "Without the medications, just in my own personal life ... I could be dead. ... I would not be functioning, normal and healthy. ... The brain is just another organ. You can't equate the spiritual to the emotional and the mental in this sense. I think we get off track when we believe that mental illness is a spiritual-rooted thing." -- Katie Dale

First of all, I am unsure why she feels the need to fight for rights no one is denied. I think therapy rooted in biblical truth can be very valuable. Medicine not so much. Let us start with the misrepresentations that are always made in this area. Mental illness is not a disease. There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance. These conditions have never been proven to be hereditary. You can stomp your feet all day long but these are the proven facts scientifically. Most in the medical field have bought in because the medical model requires blind obedience. Thankfully not all have bowed the knee:

"In fourty years, 'biological' psychiatry has yet to validate a single psychiatric condition/diagnosis as an abnormality/disease, or as anything 'neurological,' 'biological,' 'chemically-imbalanced' or 'genetic.'" --Dr. Fred Baughman Jr., child neurologist, Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology

Next time a doctor tells you that you have a chemical imbalance ask for the test results that show it. They will not be able to because they do not exist. Chemical imbalance is a theory designed to sell medication. Now the SSRI's they prescribe to you WILL throw you brain chemicals out of balance. It is essentially a game of Russian Roulette where the doctor is hoping you are so desperate to feel better that you have a placebo reaction. In which case they will declare that the drug worked. If the patient kills themselves however, the doctor will lament, "well they were depressed." That is evil to its very core. We see Katie openly admitting her savior was the drugs. She would be dead without them. She wants this discussion outside the realm of a spiritual issue because she wants to utilize the solutions of the world.

"And my proof of that is that I take the medicine daily, and I don't have psychosis and I don't hear the voices speaking anymore. You know, that's proof to me enough that says, 'No, the medicine is working.' And that's there for a reason. It's the grace of God that He gave the wisdom to the scientists and the doctors, the pharmaceutical companies, to put it together. And I'm able to be prescribed it so I can work and do everything unto the Lord in a functional, healthy way. I think He wants that." -- Katie Dale

That is known as personal anecdote. It is not "proof." I knew someone very close to me who hung themselves leaving behind two children she loved dearly. This happened shortly after taking a psychotropic regimen. That is "proof" for me that they do not work. The seven degrees of separation argument is fatally flawed as already discussed. While the Lord certainly wants us to be fully functional he would not create a solution that seems to have helped you and killed my friend. God is not responsible for human greed at pharmaceutical companies that rebrand psychotropics for pain management without informing the patients.

'Dale says that when she was 24, she decided to go off medication partially because a preacher she was listening to said, "If you have enough faith, you can be healed." On the Charisma News podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, she shares how her husband and doctor didn't agree with that, but she went for it anyway. She ended up back in the hospital suffering from hallucinations and psychosis and was discouraged when no one from her church came to visit her. "I was misguided, thinking, I'm going to be a poster child for Jesus healing me and it really blindsided me, but I ended up in the hospital again," she says. "... So where was my church at that point? We were a part of a church family ... I remember getting some one-on-one time with some friends in the church choir coming alongside me, saying, 'Hey, I see that you're suffering or you're going through this; let me pray with you.' But they didn't understand. I was having a breakdown. "So nobody from that church actually came and visited me at the hospital, which, you know, I didn't ask them to ... but with mental illness and going into a psych hospital, it would have been so encouraging and supportive if somebody had come out and seen me in the hospital."' -- Katie Dale

Listen, the church does not do a good job on this subject but mostly because they refuse to stand by the bible. I agree with Katie that the church should not be advising anyone to stop a medication they are on. Psychotropics are dangerous to full stop on. They must be weaned down. It is a shame however that the mere offering of prayer meant they did not understand. No Katie -- they did. What do we believe as Christians? I see us believing God for the most extreme healings imaginable. Cancer -- let the elders lay hands on you! Diabetes? Must bow before Jesus! Mental illness? Well, they just don't understand. The fact that none came to visit after hospitalization is unconscionable. It is difficult however when the patient has given up on the cure.

Beloved, this is not an easy topic for anyone. In the effort for full disclosure I suffered for seven years in my twenties from a panic disorder. If too many people got on a bus, I would get off. Riding the ferry was possible only if I was on the outside. Did not matter if it was the dead of winter. Subways? Not even possible. Thankfully this was before the psychotropic boom. I have worked with teenagers ruined by a childhood of Ritalin. I worked with adults who have no future because of the medications they cannot get by without. I have a close friend who almost lost her life to Xanax, which is not even a psychotropic. I am not saying that your experience of symptom relief is not real I am just saying that for everyone of you, there are four tombstones it did not work for so stop pretending it is righteous.

God does not provide symptom relief -- He solves problems. Even Katie admitted that once she stopped taking the meds the problems came back to the point that she was hospitalized. Does anyone seriously believe God operates like that? God also does not solve problems by creating secondary dependencies. Go do some serious research on the long-term results of having to take drugs like these. Next, God did not create you with mistakes in your brain chemicals. The original Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), which lists all known psychiatric conditions, was 134 pages in 1968. The latest DSM 5 is almost 1000 pages today. New conditions are just voted into existence based solely on symptom self-report. Every possible mood a human being can have is now classified, quantified and prescribed a psychotropic medication. Whenever you hear them speak about "side effects" realize they are not side effects at all. They are the actual effects of taking the drug. Consider one psychotropic, Abilify. Here are the listed effects:

Possible Effects:

Severe agitation, distress, or restless feeling; twitching or uncontrollable movements of your eyes, lips, tongue, face, arms, or legs; mask-like appearance of the face, trouble swallowing, problems with speech; seizure (convulsions); thoughts about suicide or hurting yourself;

severe nervous system reaction--very stiff (rigid) muscles, high fever, sweating, confusion, fast or uneven heartbeats, tremors, feeling like you might pass out; low blood cell counts--sudden weakness or ill feeling, fever, chills, sore throat, swollen gums, painful mouth sores, red or swollen gums, skin sores, cold or flu symptoms, cough, trouble breathing; or high blood sugar--increased thirst, increased urination, hunger, dry mouth, fruity breath odor, drowsiness, dry skin, weight loss. You may have increased sexual urges, unusual urges to gamble, or other intense urges while taking this medicine. Talk with your doctor if this occurs.

Common Effects:

Weight gain; blurred vision; nausea, vomiting, changes in appetite, constipation; drooling; headache, dizziness, drowsiness, feeling tired; anxiety, feeling restless; sleep problems (insomnia); or cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat.

Do you still really want to make the seven degrees of separation argument and blame God for that mess? Look, if you swear by these medications I would never tell you to stop taking them. If you are so debilitated that you cannot function in society, perhaps short-term pharmacotherapy can help. All I ask is that we stop pretending that God created a drug that will give you mask like facial appearances, seizures, blurred vision, anxiety, fruity breath odor and a 15% chance of self-mutilation to cover up that you feel sad. You see there are new people struggling every day with these issues and the world is begging them to take the pills. The church should be in the business of at least pretending that the God who healed the lepers and raised the dead, can also handle whatever problems we might have. #justsayin

Reverend Anthony Wade -- December 27, 2019

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.