What About Drugs for Anxiety and Depression?

As a counselor, I am often asked, “Can drugs help with anxiety and depression? The answer I give is "Yes" and "No". Yes, drugs can be useful for short-term relief. No, drugs are not a good long-term solution. Anxiety and depression are not caused by a lack of medication. Drugs do not treat the underlying causes of anxiety and depression. However, when drugs are used temporarily to give a person a window of relief to do the inner work necessary to heal the underlying causes, they can be helpful. Anxiety and depression generally have two main causes – emotional and physical. PHYSICAL CAUSES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION Our bodies become unbalanced when we don't eat well or get enough healthy exercise. Our bodies are not designed to handle the unnatural substances found in processed foods. When we overload our bodies with chemicals, pesticides, sugar and devitalized foods, our bodies become depleted of vital nutrients and become stressed. Anxiety and depression can result from this physical exhaustion and subsequent stress. Our bodies are designed to thrive on the food and water that God has given us—clean, pure, organic, unaltered food and water. If you take anxiety and depression meds and don't clean up your diet and exercise properly, you're just putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. EMOTIONAL CAUSES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION Emotionally, anxiety is caused by dysfunctional thoughts – thoughts that are not true. For example, if you tell yourself that you are not good enough or that you have to be perfect, you are likely to experience anxiety. Thoughts about not being good enough and needing to be perfect generally focus on our outer qualities of appearance and performance rather than our inner qualities of kindness, compassion, and gratitude. When we choose to be kind, loving and compassionate to ourselves and others, we feel good about ourselves. When we choose to be grateful for what we have rather than dwelling on what we don't have, we create inner peace. Kindness and gratitude are great antidote to anxiety! Anxiety is always a sign that we are lying to ourselves. Truth creates peace within, while lies create fear and anxiety. This is a sure way to find out what is true and what is not true! Emotionally, depression is caused by not taking good care of ourselves. If we ignore our needs, don't speak up for ourselves, don't judge ourselves, and make others responsible for our feelings, depression can result. If you have a child that you ignore and judge, they are likely to be depressed. The same thing happens on an inner level when we ignore and judge our own inner child. Putting yourself last and caring about everyone else but yourself can make you feel unworthy and depressed. There is no point in taking medication for anxiety and depression without addressing your dysfunctional thinking and behavior. However, if you take drugs short-term and give yourself a chance to do your inner work, they can be helpful. Many people I work with find that once they start taking good care of themselves, they don't like the effect of the medication. They don't like drugs limiting their feelings. They find that instead of wanting to be numb, they want to deeply feel all their feelings, both the highs and the lows. The more they learn to take responsibility for their feelings by attending to their thoughts and needs, the more they want to feel all their feelings. They find that while drugs can take away the pain, so can the joy. Most of the people I work with are able to avoid drugs entirely by learning to take loving care of themselves, both physically and emotionally. Many people who practice the Inner Bonding process we teach find Inner Bonding far more effective in treating anxiety and depression than drugs. If you are a person who does not want to learn to take personal responsibility for your pain and joy, then drugs may be the way out for you. But if you want to feel real peace and joy, drugs are not the answer.