I remember a church I went to 15 years ago where the pastor told people they shouldn’t be on antidepressants and to rely on God instead. Another church I went to convince me to do healing prayer for my anxiety and then a year later I discovered I was in perimenopause, and I started taking hormones, and the anxiety was gone within a week. The irresponsibility of this kind of behavior cannot be overstated. I’m glad I’m not part of these kinds of communities anymore but I do worry about people who are.
Religion tends to have the unfortunate distinction that its leaders, who others trust for their spiritual, mental and emotional well-being, have woefully inadequate training or understanding in areas such as psychology, human biology and biopsychology. You said it well, "The irresponsibility of this kind of behavior cannot be overstated."
I remember a church I went to 15 years ago where the pastor told people they shouldn’t be on antidepressants and to rely on God instead. Another church I went to convince me to do healing prayer for my anxiety and then a year later I discovered I was in perimenopause, and I started taking hormones, and the anxiety was gone within a week. The irresponsibility of this kind of behavior cannot be overstated. I’m glad I’m not part of these kinds of communities anymore but I do worry about people who are.
Religion tends to have the unfortunate distinction that its leaders, who others trust for their spiritual, mental and emotional well-being, have woefully inadequate training or understanding in areas such as psychology, human biology and biopsychology. You said it well, "The irresponsibility of this kind of behavior cannot be overstated."