Faith Healing

QUESTION: Today's comes from KS:
"I don't understand what's happening to my wife. She seems to have lost any joy for living, and some days she almost can't get out of bed. Her doctor says she needs to go on an anti-depressant medicine, but some friends say we just need more faith. She wants me to make the decision, but I don't know what to do."

IRRELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE:
From your description it is highly likely that your wife is suffering from depression. This is a mental disease that can afflict anyone, even those with stable happy lives. It is a medical condition and you would be best to take the advice of your doctor, or if still uncertain seek a second medical opinion possibly from a psychologist. Some mental afflications are due to phyiological reasons and hence can be cured by medication.
If your friends say that you ought to rely on faith alone ask them for some case histories of depression sufferers who have tried faith - either by going to a faith healer or to a person of the cloth. I would be very surprised to find any evidence that faith healing has had any success in this area.
If you try both solutions, ie medication and faith, and your wife is subsequently cured, who gets the credit? You can see this situation all of the time. People follow the advice of medical science for a cure then credit a god with providing the solution. There are no statistics that correlate Christians with better health. Therefore faith and prayer make no difference.

BILLY GRAHAM'S ANSWER:
http://www.billygraham.org/MyAnswer_Article.asp?ArticleID=6347