Growing up as the youngest daughter in a difficult home environment, I developed severe anxiety and depression. For years, fear controlled much of my life until I slowly began learning how to take my life back and seek healing.

While living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I encountered many churches and ministries heavily focused on deliverance but with very little understanding of mental health. Over the years, I’ve noticed similar teachings spreading through some Charismatic circles across the United States.

For those unfamiliar with deliverance ministry, many of these ministries believe Christians are constantly battling demons attached to nearly every emotional or physical struggle. Anxiety becomes a “spirit of fear.” Depression becomes a “spirit of heaviness.” Illness, trauma, intrusive thoughts, emotional pain, and even mental health disorders are sometimes immediately labeled as demonic oppression.

Not all deliverance ministries are unhealthy. Some genuinely want to help people and try to identify deeper root issues with compassion and discernment. However, in my personal experience, constantly viewing every struggle through a spiritual warfare lens became harmful to my mental health.

I spent years believing I needed more prayer, more deliverance, or more spiritual breakthrough. I had people repeatedly pray against “spirits of oppression” and attempt to cast demons out of me, yet my anxiety only became worse. I felt afraid, ashamed, spiritually broken, and confused about why I wasn’t getting better.

Eventually, I experienced a severe emotional and mental health crisis that forced me to finally confront what I had been denying for years: I needed actual mental health support.

When I finally began seeking professional help through therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), medication, and mental health treatment, my life slowly started changing for the better. I was later diagnosed with anxiety, PTSD, and depression.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is this: mental illness does not automatically mean someone is “crazy,” demonized, weak in faith, or spiritually defective.

Unfortunately, there is still a deep stigma surrounding mental health in many Christian communities today. Many people fear being judged, spiritually misunderstood, or viewed differently once others learn they struggle with anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, or other mental health conditions. Some Christians are quickly labeled as “oppressed,” lacking faith, spiritually weak, or demonized rather than being compassionately understood and supported. Because of this, many people stay silent about their struggles and avoid seeking the help they genuinely need out of fear, shame, or embarrassment. This silence can become dangerous. The Church should be one of the safest places for people to seek support, wisdom, healing, prayer, and encouragement, not a place where people feel terrified of being judged for struggling mentally or emotionally.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health includes a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Mental health affects how people think, feel, cope with stress, relate to others, and make decisions. The Bible also acknowledges emotional suffering, anxiety, grief, and distress throughout Scripture. Elijah became so overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted that he asked God to let him die (1 Kings 19:4–5). David frequently wrote about fear, despair, and emotional anguish throughout the Psalms. Even Jesus experienced deep emotional distress in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion (Matthew 26:37–38). Scripture never teaches that every emotional struggle automatically means a person is demonized. Sometimes people are wounded, traumatized, fearful, grieving, or mentally unwell and simply need compassion, wisdom, support, prayer, and proper care.“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2

Mental health struggles are illnesses that affect the mind, nervous system, emotions, and body, just like physical illnesses affect other parts of the body. If someone had diabetes, a broken bone, or an infection, most Christians would encourage them to seek medical treatment without shame. Mental health should be viewed with that same compassion and wisdom.

Seeking therapy, medication, or professional treatment is not a lack of faith. Sometimes it is simply part of the healing process God uses in a person’s life.

I still believe spiritual warfare exists. I still believe prayer matters deeply. But I also believe the Church must learn discernment, wisdom, and compassion when addressing mental health. Not everything is a demon, and constantly treating vulnerable people as spiritually possessed can sometimes create more fear, shame, and emotional harm instead of healing.

References:

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.World Health Organization. “Mental Health: Strengthening Our Response.” World Health Organization, 17 June 2022, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response.

Scripture References:

1 Kings 19:4–5,

Matthew 26:37–38,

Galatians 6:2,

Selected Psalms referencing fear, grief, anxiety, and emotional distress