"Ask the Pastor" by: The Rev. Walter Snyder
Q: I enjoy your column very much.
I am diagnosed with manic- depression and am doing fairly well with medications. I suffer some guilt about being depressed at all and worry that it is a spiritual weakness.
What do you teach about the relationship between mental illness and medical intervention for a Christian believer?
Thanks so much! Again, I thoroughly enjoy your column.
A: Thanks for the kind words.I apologize for taking longer than usual to respond.
Last November, we examined mental health without dealing with specific illnesses. Since then, I've read more on the subject, have listened to physicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists, and have looked deeper into Scripture.
Manic depression (bipolar disorder) can be crippling--especially in the depressive state. Yet as you have noted, most cases are managed relatively easily with drug therapy. As with other depressive illnesses, the drugs carry some side effects, but most sufferers find that the comparison between the medicine's effects and the illness's is no comparison.
Is it "crazy" to seek help? A psychiatrist said to me, "They come in, wondering if they're nuts. I tell them they would be nuts if they didn't look for help."
We can't put historical figures "on the couch" to examine them. Still, many theologians, mental health professionals, and historians believe that such people as Luther, Churchill, and Lincoln suffered from clinical depression, and that other heros of the past had such psychological illnesses as manic depression.
Until recently, all we've had were prayers (for believers who suffered) and some form of counseling (for anyone so afflicted). Some symptoms were eased, but not until new medications were developed did the full weight of depressive disorders begin to lift from millions of people. The newest drugs are stronger and safer than those of only a few years ago. The number of people benefitting from them has greatly increased. They work well--and that's become a problem for you and for many other committed Christians.
We might wonder, as you do, if our faith is really all that strong if we feel so rotten about so many things? Satan and consciences warped by sin will play tricks on us. We confuse problems not of our making with sins of which we are guilty. Obviously, you have not rejected the salvation won for you by Jesus Christ. You confess your faith and your desire to be more Christlike in all you do. So don't worry that it also takes medication to help you through your days. Few in all the Church's long history have had truly "mountain-moving" faith. Few have ever healed by direct intervention, and even fewer have called the dead back to life. The Bible says that we can't save ourselves. For this, God gives the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He washes us in Baptism, comforts us by forgiving sins, and pours the holy medicine of the body and blood of Jesus Christ into us. Usually, our bodies heal themselves. Sometimes, God may intervene miraculously. But often, God provides physicians and surgeons to aid our physical healing. So it is with many mental problems. The root cause may be sin, but it is often the crippling result of original sin rather than a specific failing of our own which causes our trouble. We are born in spiritual distress, and this is often accompanied by physical or mental ailments.
You've been blessed by God with the healing of the Gospel and modern medicine, which aids your emotional healing. God has freed you from the chains of Satan through Jesus. He also uses your medication to free you from the chains of depression and despair. This allows you to live more fully your life of Christian service. Would you feel guilty if you were physically paralyzed and doctors got you up and walking? God has used doctors to help your emotional paralysis, and you may more freely walk the road he lays out for you.
When you feel guilty, examine the source of the feeling. If you've doubted God's love, put another god before Him, or sinned against another, confess your sin and enjoy his forgiveness. If this is a trick of the devil, turn to the the Word to rebut his lies, rejoicing that God gives release from your affliction. Psalm 130 may be a special blessing. It begins: "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord," and ascends to celebrate the Lord lovingly keeping his promises.
God bless you in your ascent on the paths of his righteousness.
"Ask the Pastor" P.O. Box 1080, Jasper, Texas, 75951 or via the Internet through xrysostom@aol.com. You can also stop me on the street for a chat.
Walter Snyder is the pastor of St. Paul and Faith Lutheran Churches, Jasper and Woodville, Texas, and coauthor of "What Do Lutherans Believe? A Study Guide in Christian Teachings for Adults."
Copyright (c) 1996 by Walter P. Snyder Permission is granted by author to reproduce or retransmit this by any means, provided that its content is not altered, that this notice of copyright and permission is included, and that no financial gain is realized.
