A lift-out magazine in a recent weekend newspaper contained an article on the search for a “psychedelic” medical solution for a range of mental health issues.

It is not uncommon, of course, for people to self-medicate with mind-altering substances: everything from alcohol and LSD or Ecstasy to magic mushrooms and marijuana.  A drug-induced high is an attractive solution for someone struggling with the black-dog of depression.  This article however pointed out that recent medical tests with psychedelic substances (such as psilocybin) had proven effective in treating people with clinical depression and even folk with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD).  The author argued that this option, if used under strict supervision of a therapist, is preferable to DIY drug solutions.

I have some sympathy for such concerns.  I recall a parishioner, a Vietnam veteran, suffering from PTSD; a man of simple faith, who often relived the horrors of his years in Vietnam.  I have recollections of other parishioners who struggled through every day with clinical depression that not only affected them but also their families.

I’ve sometimes been asked whether I think it is okay to take anti-depressants.  One lady put the problem very succinctly: Shouldn’t my positive outlook in life come from my faith in Jesus, rather than from a ‘happy pill’.  I agreed with her that she was spot on... but... that she was forgetting something.  In her case depression had commenced with the onset of menopause.  I pointed out to her that we live in a fallen and broken world in which our hormones get horribly scrambled at times.  I suggested that if a ‘happy pill’ helped her through a rough patch of adjusting to changes in her body then I, for one, had no issues with that.

Of course there is a problem.  I recall an elderly lady who lost her husband at about the same time as menopause kicked in.  Up to when she died, more than two decades later, she was still taking her ‘happy pills’.  She once confessed to me that she had often tried to get off them... but without success.  The reality is that for some people they become addictive.

What then about the issue of religion?  Isn’t our faith supposed to have the answers to all our problems?  In some Christian circles there is even a motto: Get high on Jesus!  Even an atheist such as Karl Marx felt there was truth in that.  He called religion an ‘opiate of the people’.  Some get their fix from a shot of heroin; others get a lift through religious experiences, faith and worship.

There are a couple of things we do well to keep in mind.  First of all, Jesus did not come into the world primarily to make us happy.  The purpose of His coming was first of all to save His people from the realm of darkness, sin and evil and to give them the hope sharing one day in His glorious new creation.  Secondly, happiness is a by-product of the saving work of Jesus.  To be brought out of darkness into God’s Kingdom of life and light ought to fill us with joy and delight.  We need to keep those two things in order.  Being happy is not the same as being saved from sin, Satan and death.

Jesus once told the story of the Prodigal Son who ended up at the pig’s feeding trough.  Today we could make the Prodigal Son incredibly happy at the pig’s feeding trough with a life-time prescription of ‘happy pills’ or any drug of choice for that matter.  But he would still be feeding pigs, far away from the Father’s home.  Getting him to come to his senses and return to his Father is more important than making him happy.  But it’s as he returns to the Father that he also gets to enjoy the happiness of a wonderful welcome at a grand party.

Finally we should also accept all this with a healthy dose of realism.  The Bible nowhere promises us a trouble-free journey through life... only a safe arrival at our destiny in glory.  The Bible suggests that life is more like a battle than a trip on a cruise-ship.  That battle sometimes even includes fighting the black-dog of depression when the enemy of our souls attacks us at our most vulnerable places.  In the end it’s our faith that gives us the victory... even if we find a little relief for a time on a happy pill...!

John Westendorp