In a new study, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that antidepressant use has increased 400% in the past 30 years, making it the most commonly used medication among adults aged 18-44. In the study spanning three years, 11% of Americans over the age of 12 used antidepressant medications.
More than that, many of those using antidepressant medications had not seen a doctor in more than a year. Thus, the consensus conclusion (USToday, FoxNews, etc.) is that many people are looking to antidepressants as a quick-fix for depression and anxiety.
As Dr. Alvarez notes in the FoxNews article,
I think Americans are being aggressively over-diagnosed and have become too sensitive to minor health problems. We have started to believe that we shouldn’t have to live our lives with problems or depression, and picking up a pill is a quick fix to feel better. So we have set a mindset where folks don’t want to deal with any sort of issue…Ouch!
The Spirituality of Suffering
So, it seems Dr. Alvarez thinks our culture is in an epidemic of escapism and we are using prescription medication to do it. But does it really matter? Why shouldn’t we escape pain? If a pill is available to stop the hurt, why not take it?
Mind you, I’m not a sadist nor a masochist. I don’t like pain any more than the next person nor do I relish inflicting or prolonging pain for anyone. But in addition to my own pain, I sit with hurting people week in and week out. And my observation is that Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs, is correct when he says there are two primary roads of transformation: prayer and suffering. And the truth is most of us don’t do transformative prayer very well, so all that’s left is pain. And it is indeed transformational if we will listen.
But what does it say when we, as a culture, no longer have the nerve to receive suffering in a transformational way? It means we have almost completely cut off the lifelines of spiritual vitality. Do you want to grow, to truly see your spiritual life transformed? Listen to your suffering and learn from it. Not only will you learn something about yourself, but you will learn something about God. As John Calvin, one of the leaders of the protestant reformation wrote in his book The Institutes of the Christian Religion wrote, “There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self. And there is no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God.” And suffering helps us learn.
If you’d like to explore the impact of suffering in your spiritual life, consider talking with a pastor or a counselor who is trained in integrating faith issues into therapy.
Disclaimer
Just to be clear, antidepressants are at times very necessary and appropriate for individuals. I do not believe that all people using antidepressants are escapists nor that antidepressants are not beneficial in some situations. If you have been prescribed an antidepressant, don’t just stop taking it because you read my article and you’ve decided you want to learn a few things spiritually. That’s really not a good idea.
Photo by ep_jhu used under Creative Commons License