Christians and Psychiatric Medication on this edition of Truth in Love.

You're listening to Truth in Love, a podcast of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors,

where we seek to provide biblical solutions for the problems that people face.

The World Health Organization reports that 15% of men, 26% of women, 7% of boys, and 5% of girls

are on some type of prescription psychiatric medication.

That means, at least in the United States, and certainly in terms of the Western world,

many people are dealing with the kinds of difficulties for which they have sought help from prescription medication.

That means that many of you listening to this are on or have been on a psychoactive medication or you know people who are. And so this is something that we need to

discuss. It's an issue that a lot of people have questions about and Christians certainly have

questions about it as well. So should people feel guilty about taking any psychiatric

medications? Well, this is such an important question because so many people do feel guilty

when they are prescribed to psychiatric medication. In fact, in the literature, this often

will be called medication guilt, because people just feel guilty about it. And, you know,

really, people should not feel guilty for taking medication. And there are a couple of reasons for

that. One is a profoundly theological reason,

and it has to do with who we are created to be. God has made men and women in his image to be a

body and a soul. Human beings are not just spiritual beings. We are physical and spiritual beings. We have a soul and we have a body.

And so the Bible's teaching that we are a combination of a body and a soul is an endorsement of our care for the body.

And so it is a blessing when we have medications that provide physical relief or physical cure for physical problems.

You know, you think about in First Kings chapter 19, where Elijah, after his contest with the

prophets of Bale, he runs and flees the wrath of Jezebel, and he is exhausted,

and he collapses, and he's waiting to hear a word from the Lord, but before God will speak to him,

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