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Songs of a Suffering King: The Grand Christ Hymn of Psalms 1–8 by John Fesko $2.99.

How We Got the Bible by Neil R. Lightfoot $2.39.

Christian Audio have chosen Reset: Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture their free audiobook for April. Get it here.

The biggest ever study of anti-depressants has found that they reduce symptoms of depression and are more effective than placebos. The findings also included the first ever league tables comparing different antidepressants, confirming that they all work, but some less well-known drugs work better than well-known ones like Prozac.

Here’s how the BBC reported it:

Scientists say they have settled one of medicine’s biggest debates after a huge study found that anti-depressants work.

The study, which analysed data from 522 trials involving 116,477 people, found 21 common anti-depressants were all more effective at reducing symptoms of acute depression than dummy pills.

You can read reports on the research here and here and you can access the original paper here.

The research, led by Oxford University, and published in The Lancet, the most prestigious British medical journal, examined 522 trials involving 21 types of anti-depressant medication and 115,000 patients over almost four decades, most of whom had moderate to severe depression.

Importantly, the paper analysed unpublished data held by pharmaceutical companies, and showed that the funding of studies by these companies does not influence the result, thus confirming that the clinical usefulness of these drugs is not affected by pharma-sponsored spin.

The researchers suggest much of the opposition to prescribing of such medications came from an “ideological” standpoint rather than an assessment of the evidence.

Expert Reaction

You can read some of the expert reaction to the research here. Some extracts below:

Lead author Dr Andrea Cipriani said he was “very excited” about the findings, which he said provided a “final answer” to controversy over the effectiveness of the drugs.

Prof Carmine Pariante, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and spokesperson for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “This meta-analysis finally puts to bed the controversy on antidepressants, clearly showing that these drugs do work in lifting mood and helping most people with depression…For the millions of individuals with depression who are taking antidepressants at present, or will need to take antidepressants in the future, it confirms that these drugs are safe and effective.”

Prof Anthony Cleare, Professor of Psychopharmacology and  Affective Disorders, King’s College London, said  the study “puts to bed the idea that antidepressants don’t work – all 21 antidepressants were more effective than placebo at treating depression.”

Prof David Taylor, Professor of Psychopharmacology, King’s College London, said: “This analysis of a huge number of studies of antidepressants confirms that they are much more effective than placebo – itself a powerful treatment in depression. Differences between antidepressants are smaller, although newer drugs tend to be better tolerated.”

Dr James Warner, Reader in Psychiatry, Imperial College London, said: “This rigorous study confirms that antidepressants have an important place in the treatment of depression.”

Some Caveats

Some of the cautions in relation to the report included the following:

• Researchers added that most of the data in the meta-analysis covered eight weeks of treatment, so the findings might not apply to longer-term use.
• They said it did not mean that anti-depressants should always be the first form of treatment.
• Medication should always be considered alongside other options, such as psychological therapies, where these are available.

The Role of Meds

I state my own view on the role of medication in the treatment of depression in Chapter eight of Refresh: Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture. In summary, the main points are:

• Don’t rush to medication.
• Don’t rule it out
• Don’t wait too long to consider it
• Don’t expect rapid results
• Don’t rely on meds alone (the most important point of all)
• Don’t dwell on side-effects
• Don’t obsess about getting off them
• Don’t come off them too quickly
• Don’t be ashamed of them

I’ve summarized and simplified some of the most recent ground-breaking research into depression here, here, and here.

For a simple accessible Christian guide to medications, see Dr. Mike Emblett’s excellent book, Descriptions and Prescriptions.

Postscript

Some of the alarming mental health stats I picked up in my reading about this report include:

• Although 1 in 5 people will suffer a mental health problem this year only one in six patients suffering from depression receive treatment.
• The average age of onset for depression is 14, as diagnosed now, compared to 45 in the 1960s
• The number of young people who talked about suicide during Childline (UK) counselling sessions in 2013/14 rose 116% compared to 2010/11
• Eighty per cent of people stop anti-depressants within a month although beneficial effects normally took at least two months.
• Because of inadequate resources, antidepressants are used more frequently than psychological interventions.

Here’s the video to show your kids at the end of Expedition 13 of Exploring the Bible. If you want to bookmark a page where all the videos will eventually appear, you can find them on my blog, on YouTube, or the Facebook page for Exploring the Bible.

If you haven’t started your kids on the book yet, you can begin anytime and use it with any Bible version. Here are some sample pages.

You can get it at RHB, Westminster Books, Crossway, or Amazon. If you’re in Canada use Reformed Book Services. Some of these retailers have good discounts for bulk purchases by churches and schools.

Blogs

The Happiest Teens Use Smartphones, Digital Media Less Than An Hour A Day – Study Finds

6 Ways to Survive the Grief of Childlessness

Christ-Centered Friendship

7 Ways Grief Becomes Sinful

The New Discovery of Your Body’s Biggest Organ

Kindle Books

The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms by Gordon Wenham $4.99.

I was talking with a military leader recently about the growing number of devastating moral failures among prominent Christian leaders. He mentioned to me a training seminar he attended on “The Bathsheba Syndrome” and its application in the military context. I asked him to send me further info and he emailed me the article (online version here) co-authored by Dean Ludwig, Assistant Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Family Business at the University of Toledo, and one of his colleagues, Clinton Longenecker.

The article is not written from a Christian perspective but uses the biblical narrative to describe this syndrome because of people’s familiarity with the story. The main points of the research are:

• Reports of ethical violations by upper level managers continue to multiply despite increasing attention being given to ethics by firms and business schools.
• There are many examples of good, respected, successful leaders, men and women of intelligence, talent, and vision who suddenly self-destruct as they reach the apex of their careers.
• Most cases are usually gross violations, which the leaders know are wrong while in the act of perpetration, but they mistakenly believe they have the power to conceal.
• Most of these leaders are men and women of generally strong principle who have built careers based more on service than self-gratification.
• The most common cause is not lack of operational principles or the willingness to abandon principles in the face of competitive pressure.
• Rather, ethical violations by upper managers are the by-product of success. 
• Power dements even more than it corrupts, lowering the guard of foresight and raising the haste of action.
• Research suggests that many managers are poorly prepared to deal with success.

Why is this? The paper offers four explanations based upon the David and Bathsheba narrative.

1. Success often allows managers to become complacent and to lose focus, diverting attention to things other than the management of their organization.

2. Success, whether personal or organizational, often leads to privileged access to information, people or objects.

3. With success usually comes increasingly unrestrained control of organizational resources.

4. Success can inflate a manager’s belief in his or her personal ability to manipulate outcomes.

David’s inflated self-confident belief in his own personal ability to manipulate the outcome of this story is probably representative of the attitude of many of today’s professionally trained managers of business. Trained in attitude and technique to “get things done” and “make things happen,” todays’ business school graduates often possess a dangerously inflated self-confidence.

Even individuals with a highly developed moral sense can be challenged (tempted?) by the “opportunities” resulting from the convergence of these four dynamics.

The authors draw seven lessons from David’s sad experience. The most important are:

1. Leaders are in their positions to focus on doing what is right for their organization’s short-term and long-term success. This can’t happen if they aren’t where they are supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to be doing.

2. Attempts to cover-up unethical practices can have dire organizational consequences including innocent people getting hurt, power being abused, trust being violated, other individuals being corrupted, and the diversion of needed resources.

3. Not getting caught initially can produce self-delusion and increase the likelihood of future unethical behavior.

4. Getting caught can destroy the leader, the organization, innocent people, and everything the leader has spent his/her life working for.

The authors conclude that organizations must re-evaluate and change structures, procedures, and practices which enhance the likelihood of managers falling victim to the Bathsheba Syndrome.

Some of the advice includes:

1. Realize that living a balanced life reduces the likelihood of the negatives of success causing you to lose touch with reality. Family, relationships, and interests other than work must all be cultivated for long-term success to be meaningful.

2. Build an ethical team of managers around you who will inspire you to lead by example and who will challenge or confront you when you need either.

3. At the board level, directors should have a concern for the leader’s personal/psychological balance. This can include forced vacations, outside activities, and periodic visits to counselors to help the leader keep both feet planted on the ground.

Needless to say, the lessons for CEO’s, boards, and businesses can easily be transferred to pastors, elders, and churches.

May God keep our leaders! May God keep us all!!