Are drugs the only solution to depression?

Do you ever struggle with dark thoughts or depression? Many people do. A recent news article suggested that anti-depression pills are now the most commonly prescribed medications in America. This squares very much with my own observations as a pastor. An increasing number of people are admitting to living lives riddled with anxiety and as such have turned to physicians for medication.

As a Christian and a theologian, I am willing to concede that there are occasions when prescriptive drugs may be an appropriate option for depressed people, especially when things like past drug use has ruined parts of the brain that help regulate emotions. But since when were physicians appointed as doctors of the soul, claiming insight into the inner spiritual and emotional workings of human beings? Historically that was the job of men like myself who have been appointed to teach on matters of the soul and offer pastoral guidance to people struggling with very real issues like depression. Slowly, slyly, the church has once again relinquished one of her tasks to the world, claiming to have no expertise in such matters. I for one however, am not willing to offer such a concession.

That said, I will repeat my belief that some depression in people is best addressed through the cautious use of medications (a 3 minute interview in your doctor’s office can hardly qualify as cautious). On the other hand if a person’s life is in a shambles due to bad choices, anxiety and worry (which are labelled in Scripture as "sin" not "struggles"), then perhaps a different prescription for life is in order, namely the Words of Creator God. Regarding the issues of worry and anxiety, which plague so many, God offers this counsel:

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Matt 6:25b.

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matt 6:27

These words are meant to both rebuke faulty thinking and encourage you that God is in control and the responses of anxiety and worry to the events of life do not help. He loves you and wants to control your life so that you don’t have to. By taking promises like these to heart, writing them out and meditating upon them daily, a person positions himself for healing. By encountering personal faith in Christ, augmented by growth in the spiritual disciplines many people find their depression lifted.

One helpful resource to sort through these issues is Edward Welch’s (Christian) book Blame It on the Brain?: Distinguishing Chemical Imbalances, Brain Disorders, and Disobedience . If you or someone you know is depressed, consider recommending this book as a helpful tool for exploring alternatives to the fashionable and almost exclusive modern response of prescriptive drugs.