Therese Lysaught, Professor, Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University Chicago, took part in the March 2017 conference “Taking Our Meds Faithfully? Christian Engagements with Psychiatric Medication, “hosted by Duke Divinity School’s Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative. In this interview from the conference, she discusses the intersection of her research and psychopharmacology, medications as sacraments, neoliberalism, and the church as a counter politics in relation to mental illness.

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“Out of Our Meds” Conference Series:

Through the generous support of the McDonald Agape Foundation, “Taking Our Meds Faithfully: Christian Engagements with Psychiatric Medication” is the first of four annual conferences that will engage moral and theological approaches to prescription medication use.

Questions for future conferences will include the following:

2018: What does it look like to prescribe and to take psychiatric medications wisely?

2019: “Do not be anxious about your body:” How is medical management of risks to future health compatible with Christian discipleship?  

2020: Is pharmacological risk management good medicine?