When Church Hurts More Than It Helps: The Stigma of Therapy in Christian Culture

There are wounds that come from the world—and then there are wounds that come from the places we thought would be safe. For many Christians, the Church has been a source of comfort, community, and spiritual growth. But for others, especially those navigating mental health challenges, it has sometimes felt more like a place of silence, shame, or spiritual bypassing.

The message isn’t always loud or direct. It’s often implied in prayer circles that only focus on deliverance, in sermons that label anxiety as a lack of faith, or in well-meaning advice that says, “Just give it to God” when your mind feels like a battlefield.

The Stigma That Speaks in Silence

For years, therapy was seen in some Christian spaces as something "other people" needed—those who didn’t have “enough” faith, those who hadn’t fully surrendered, those who weren’t “strong in the Lord.” Instead of being encouraged to seek healing holistically—spiritually and emotionally—many believers were told to suppress, to spiritualize, or worse, to hide.

And what’s more tragic is how many people were suffering silently, believing that their struggles made them spiritually defective.

But here’s the truth: needing help doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human.

The Bible Doesn’t Shame Honest Emotion

Jesus wept (John 11:35). David wrote psalms soaked in anguish. Elijah asked God to take his life (1 Kings 19:4). Job sat in the ashes, bewildered by suffering. Scripture is not void of emotional expression—it’s full of it. Yet somehow, in modern Christian culture, we’ve equated maturity with emotional suppression. We’ve confused spiritual confidence with stoicism.

But you weren’t meant to carry it all alone.

Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

It doesn’t say, “Pray away the burdens.” It says carry them—together.

Therapy and Faith Can Coexist

There’s nothing unbiblical about seeking wisdom, guidance, or help. In fact, Proverbs 11:14 reminds us: “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

Therapy isn’t a rejection of God’s healing—it can be a vehicle for it. A skilled counselor can help you untangle thought patterns that are keeping you stuck. They can sit with you in pain that others minimize. They can give language to what your soul has been trying to scream for years.

And sometimes, that’s the very thing that opens you back up to experiencing God more fully.

When Church Hurts, but God Still Heals

If the Church has hurt you by shaming your need for mental health support, I want you to hear this clearly: that was never God’s heart.

Jesus never mocked people for seeking healing.
He never shamed anyone for being broken.
He never told anyone they were “too much” or “too weak.”

In fact, He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Luke 5:31)

If you’ve been holding pain in silence because your church culture doesn’t know what to do with it, please know this: your story matters. Your healing matters. Your mental health matters.

God sees the full spectrum of your humanity—and loves you through every layer of it.

Therapy is not a betrayal of your faith. It’s an act of stewardship. Of courage. Of saying, “I matter enough to not stay broken.”

Because Jesus didn’t just come to save your soul. He came to bring you life—and life to the full (John 10:10). That includes emotional healing, mental clarity, and peace that passes understanding.

Even if you have to find it outside the sanctuary that once wounded you.

And that’s okay.