Is Taking Medication for Anxiety a Lack of Faith?

Short answer: no. Taking medication or seeing a counselor for anxiety is not a lack of faith. Scripture never treats using medicine or wise help as distrust in God, and God often brings healing through doctors, counselors and the people around us. You can pray for healing and take the help at the same time. Both are ways of trusting Him.

Why do Christians feel guilty about getting help?

Brad Straarup addressed this head-on in his message How to Defeat Anxiety: "Counseling is not a lack of faith. Medication is not a lack of faith. There are tools that God can use." That is exactly right, and it needs saying, because many believers carry a quiet fear that needing help means God isn't enough for them.

Sometimes they've heard it from the front of a church: real faith wouldn't need a pill or a therapist. So they suffer in silence, or take their medication and feel ashamed about it.

So the real question isn't whether you'll trust God or use tools. It's whether you'll trust God while potentially choosing to use the tools He provides.

Does the Bible say anything about medicine?

More than you might expect. The Bible doesn't hand us a medical textbook, but it treats medical care as a normal, good part of life.

• Luke was a doctor. Paul calls him "our dear friend Luke, the doctor" (Colossians 4:14). He traveled with Paul and wrote a Gospel and the book of Acts. Nobody suggested he quit medicine to prove his faith.
• Paul gave Timothy health advice. "Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses" (1 Timothy 5:23). The same apostle who wrote about God's healing power also told his friend to use a practical remedy.
• God promised healing and used a remedy. When King Hezekiah was dying, God promised to add fifteen years to his life, and the prophet Isaiah still had a poultice of figs applied to his boil (Isaiah 38:5, 21). The promise and the remedy went together.
• Jesus treated seeing a doctor as normal. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (Matthew 9:12). He was making a point about sinners, but He assumed sick people seeing a doctor was ordinary and wise.

There's one passage people sometimes raise on the other side. King Asa was severely ill, yet "even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians" (2 Chronicles 16:12). Notice the word "only." His failure wasn't seeing physicians. It was leaving God out. So our goal is to seek the Lord, and then seek the help He provides.

Isn't anxiety a spiritual problem?

It can be, and often it's more than one thing at once. God made you a whole person: body, mind and spirit. Anxiety can have roots in all three, and they tangle together. A worn-out body makes a mind more anxious. A troubled mind makes prayer harder. Treating one part doesn't mean you've neglected the others.

Elijah is a good picture. Right after a great victory, he ran for his life, sat under a tree and asked God to let him die (1 Kings 19:3-4). God's first response wasn't a rebuke or a sermon. He let Elijah sleep, and an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat" (1 Kings 19:5). Only after rest and food did God speak to him in a gentle whisper. God cared for the prophet's body before addressing his heart.

Medication for anxiety works on the body God made. Using it is no more faithless than wearing glasses or taking insulin.

Shouldn't I just pray for healing?

Pray for healing, absolutely. At Spirit Church we believe God still heals today. James tells the sick to call the elders to pray over them and promises that "the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well" (James 5:14-15). Ask boldly. Ask others to pray with you.

But praying and getting treatment aren't rivals. "Every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17), and that includes a counselor who helps you untangle your thoughts and a medication that steadies you enough to sleep, pray and think clearly. When healing comes through those means, it's still God's healing.

How can faith and treatment work together?

1. Talk to a doctor honestly. Tell them what you're experiencing and follow their guidance. Don't start, stop or change a medication without them.
2. Find a good counselor. "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed" (Proverbs 15:22). We always encourage people to find a counselor who shares their faith.
3. Keep your spiritual life going. Bring your requests to God "by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving" (Philippians 4:6). Medicine can quiet the noise; it can't replace knowing Jesus.
4. Don't hide. Tell a pastor or a trusted friend. A group can carry you on hard weeks, and our team would love to pray for you.
5. Rest. "A Sabbath is an act of faith," a weekly way of saying God can do more with your six days than you can with seven.

If you are in crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, please don't wait. In the US you can call or text 988 at any hour, or go to the nearest emergency room.

Frequently asked questions

If I had more faith, would I still need medication?

Needing treatment says nothing about the size of your faith. Paul had great faith and still told Timothy to take something for his stomach. Faith is trusting God, and you can do that while taking a prescription.

Is it okay for a Christian to see a counselor who isn't a Christian?

Many believers are helped by skilled counselors of all backgrounds. Weigh what you hear against Scripture, and keep a pastor or mature believer in the loop. Again, we'd always recommend a Christian counselor when you can find one.

What if I believe God has healed me? Can I stop my medication?

Thank God for what He's doing, then talk to your doctor before changing anything. Stopping some medications suddenly can be harmful. Real healing will hold up under a doctor's care.

Use every good gift

The God who promises peace that "transcends all understanding" (Philippians 4:7) is the same God who gave Luke his medical skill. Receiving help isn't stepping away from Him. If you're taking medication or seeing a counselor, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Keep praying, keep trusting and keep taking the next faithful step.

For more on bringing anxiety to God, watch Brad Straarup's message, How to Defeat Anxiety, from our series You Asked for It.

You don't have to walk through anxiety alone. Plan your visit and find people who will stand with you.

Keep reading: Is Anxiety a Sin?