“For your child or teen in mental and emotional distress or crisis, treatment can mean the difference between a normal life and a limited ability to function. In extreme circumstances, it may even be the difference between life and death.”
The serious conditions we’ve discussed (depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder) all require treatment. For some conditions, this might include various forms of psychotherapy or talk therapy.
Some Christians think that if we have faith we don’t need medication. Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles was a doctor. At no point in scripture does he say “I was on the wrong path, I should have lived by faith,” from the early days of Christianity there was an understanding medical science and faith can go together.
Sometimes talk therapy isn’t enough, and medication may be needed as well. Medications may be prescribed as a first line of treatment. At other times they’re used simply as a way of helping your child get to a mental or emotional state where he or she can best respond to psychotherapy. Your doctor or mental health professional may recommend talk therapy, medication, or both, tailoring the treatment to the individual needs of your child for the best results.
A GP or a psychiatrist (a medical doctor with a specialty in mental health) are the two professionals who can prescribe medication.