Sometimes it's easier and sometimes it's not...

**insideiamdying** · August 18th, 2017, 12:43 PM

I had gone nearly 6 years without having cut myself and then I got off my medication because my pastor told me I was healed. I reduced the medication slowly but when it got to a really low dose it hit me. Anxiety, depression, mood swings and finally cutting again. I had not been in counseling for nearly 3 years except for med management. It got pretty bad. I started to cut again and battled with terrile thoughts of suicide.

It was a nightmare. I finally called my counselor and started to see her again. My psychiatrist raised the medication backup and I am doing better. I left the church over this but have found a new one.

So remember folks... Don't reduce your medication without speaking first to your doctor...

Jeff

**David Baxter** · August 18th, 2017, 12:51 PM

And never change your medications on the advice of someone who is not a medical professional, no matter how well-intentioned that person might be.

**insideiamdying** · August 18th, 2017, 12:56 PM

I think some churches of real issues with Mental Illness. The pastor at the church I was going to does not believe in Mental Illness and says that there is no such thing as a brain out of balance. He advocates prayer and then action on that prayer. I gave in after struggling with him over this for 3 years. His heart is in the right place but his actions and teachings are dangerous.

**David Baxter** · August 18th, 2017, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by insideiamdying

I think some churches of real issues with Mental Illness. The pastor at the church I was going to does not believe in Mental Illness and says that there is no such thing as a brain out of balance. He advocates prayer and then action on that prayer. I gave in after struggling with him over this for 3 years. His heart is in the right place but his actions and teachings are dangerous.

Totally agree. I have seen this before and that view is both dangerous and ill-informed.

**insideiamdying** · August 18th, 2017, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by David Baxter

Totally agree. I have seen this before and that view is both dangerous and ill-informed.

After I started cutting again and displayed anxiety and suicidal issues the pastor sent me a 3-word text message saying "take your meds." I feel it was a little too late for that. But I am doing better and like my new church...

**forgetmenot** · August 18th, 2017, 03:08 PM

Hopefully he will think before he advises someone to go off their meds again.

**Jesse910** · August 19th, 2017, 05:15 PM

Years ago, I had a pastor tell me that I needed to pray more. I was very conflicted over the depression I was going through and whether I trusted God to heal me. It took the actions of my new pastor who recognized what I had was actual bipolar traits. I was placed in the hands of an extremely capable psychologist and psychiatrist. Today, I do not seek the counsel of my pastor. If I had listened to my original pastor, I would be dead. I needed the expertise of someone who understood the illness and what medications would work.

**Ex-member** · August 20th, 2017, 11:04 PM

I too was told by my pastor to pray more, go to confession more often, etc. So I did. And I didn't understand why I wasn't get better. I just kept getting worse. Once I started cutting I was finally referred to a professional, but it was still ingrained in me that the problem was spiritual and nothing else.

It took a long time for me to trust a medical professional over the church. Pastors are trained in theology. Not psychology (usually) or psychiatry. There's a time and a place for everything but pastors telling people who demonstrate any sign of mental illness to pray more is unethical and irresponsible.

**Jesse910** · August 20th, 2017, 11:25 PM

Hi Turtle: I firmly believe that people operate best in their designed sphere. Clergy as we both have learned know more about theology than psychology or about psychiatric illnesses. And they do a lot of damage when they over step their bounds. Since my "awakening" of this information, I encountered a minister as recently as last year who stated that people who chose psychological counseling over spiritual counseling were doomed. How I handled that was I reminded myself that a little bit of knowledge is dangerous. And, what I had done in seeking help for my illness is what saved my life. Turtle, we did the right thing and we are better for our respective journeys.