One of the changes I’ve made over the past few weeks is I’ve started taking the antidepressant EFFEXOR XR again to combat my depression.

I know that some people look down on the use of antidepressants.  They see them as a crutch, as an indication that a person can’t pull themselves up on their own, or worse, as someone who is just crazy.  Just a couple of days ago I saw one of the gossip magazines at the grocery store with the headline blaring “Britney on Antidepressants to Cope!”  I never thought that I’d have anything in common with Britney Spears, but there you go.

Here’s how I feel about it.

If a person has a broken leg, we don’t tell them not to go to the doctor, get a cast on it, and allow it to heal.  If a person has diabetes, we don’t tell them not to take their insulin.  So why is it any different when a person’s brain chemistry is off and they are struggling to just live life.  I’m not talking about the blues here: antidepressants like Effexor don’t keep a person from feeling sad - they just give them the ability to feel normal again.  My doctor thinks that I’ll need to be on them for the rest of my life.  I’m of the opinion that it’s a day at a time thing.

One of the things that I really like about Religious Science/Science of Mind is that Ernest Holmes was of the opinion that if a pill helped, take the pill.  It’s one of the major differences between Religious Science and Christian Science - as far as I know, Christian Scientists see using doctors and pills and medical treatment as a lack of faith, while Religious Scientists (practitioners of the Science of Mind) see it as using a gift from God.  Before I moved across the country, I was seeing a Religious Science Practitioner who was also a certified drug and alcohol counselor, and one of her suggestions was that I get on an antidepressant medication.  I never did, because of my lack of health insurance.

I guess I’m writing this because those of us who have suffered from depression and practice spiritual disciplines such as the Science of Mind or the Twelve Steps, as well as work with the Law of Attraction, can sometimes feel split, like we are doing one thing at one time, and then another at another time.  And I’m here to say that I’m done with that way of thinking.  So if you are like me, and you hear Wayne Dyer speaking derisively about how they have a drug for everything today (as he did in his PBS special “The Power of Intention”, which I otherwise loved), or you are in AA and your sponsor just doesn’t get why you are “trying to get happiness from a pill”, and you feel guilt about it, you are not alone.  If the pills help, keep taking them!  They aren’t magic, and there’s so much more to beating depression than taking medication.  But it can be an important part of it.

Don’t forget: only you can be the final judge of what will create your better life.

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