Mental Health Medication

Biological/Scientific

Drugs and conditions are diverse and require a diverse range of responses.

The mechanisms by which psychoactive drugs work is not entirely understood.

Drugs may not be effective.

Side effects may mean that even effective pharmacological treatment might not be worthwhile.

There are other effective physical treatments for mental illness besides or in addition to drugs.

Changes in medication can have their own side effects and doctors are best equipped to guide people through such changes rather than friends, pastors, or biblical counselors.

Biblical

Pastors and biblical counselors should use extreme caution when advising people regarding physical health.

Proverbs 18:12–13 “12 Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. 13 To answer before listening— that is folly and shame.”

It’s okay to be sad.

Ecc.

The God of all comfort concerns himself with relieving suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:3–6 “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”

Psalms

Drugs are not necessary for your godliness.

2 Peter 1:3 “3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

The human heart creates idols and medicine can be an idol.

Psalm 62:1–2 “1 Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. 2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”

Drugs may make make it both easier and harder to deal with heart issues.

James 1:23–25 “23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”