Jesus or the GP? Why That’s the Wrong Question

A few years ago, my wife Laura suggested I should go and see my GP.

I remember feeling genuinely confused.

Why would she think that?

As far as I was concerned, I was fine. Well, not fine. I was tired, stressed, busy, adjusting to life as a new dad, and dealing with a lot at work. But that’s life, isn’t it? Everyone gets tired. Everyone gets stressed. Everyone has seasons where they’re carrying more than they’d like.

At least, that’s how I saw it.

The truth is, I didn’t think there was a problem, or if there was, I certainly couldn’t image it was a mental health problem.

Besides, my life was good. Really good. I loved my wife. I adored my son. Work was going well. If you’d asked me to list God’s blessings, I’d have struggled to know where to stop.

Which is why I felt so ashamed.

I assumed depressed people had a reason to be depressed. I couldn’t find one. My life wasn’t falling apart. Quite the opposite. So I concluded the problem must be me. Maybe I wasn’t grateful enough. Maybe I wasn’t trusting God enough. Maybe I was somehow letting my family down. Maybe I was letting God down.

I’ve since discovered that many Christians quietly carry exactly the same fears.

The Shame Nobody Talks About

If you’ve never experienced depression or anxiety, it’s easy to imagine they’re simply sadness and worry turned up a few notches.

They can certainly include those things. Depression can bring overwhelming sadness, and anxiety can bring fear that seems to grip every part of your life. Panic attacks are very real. But these struggles often run far deeper than people realise.

I know what it feels like to be in such emotional pain that ending my life genuinely felt like the preferable option.

I know what it feels like to stand in the kitchen while Laura watched television in the next room and quietly try to survive a panic attack without her noticing. More than once I ended up on the floor, dizzy, shaking, and struggling to breathe properly. Not because she wouldn’t have cared. She would have. Not because she wouldn’t have helped. She always did.

I hid it because I was ashamed.

I felt weak. I was embarrassed that I seemed incapable of doing something as simple and automatic as breathing. More than anything, I felt like I was failing.

That’s one of the cruellest parts of anxiety and depression. The struggle itself is hard enough, but shame often tags along for the ride. Before long, you’re not only carrying the weight of what you’re experiencing, you’re also carrying the guilt of believing you shouldn’t be struggling at all.

For Christians, that shame can become especially heavy because it’s all too easy to assume the problem is spiritual. You begin questioning whether a better Christian would cope differently or whether trusting God more would somehow make everything disappear.

A Strange Double Standard

Imagine you broke your leg tomorrow.

You’d go to A&E. You’d accept treatment. You’d take the painkillers, wear the cast, and attend the physiotherapy appointments. Nobody would question your faith. Nobody would suggest that seeking help demonstrated a lack of trust in God.

Why?

Because we instinctively understand that God can heal through miracles and medicine.

Yet when the affected body part happens to be the brain, things often become more complicated.

For some reason, seeking help for anxiety or depression can attract questions that nobody would ask about a broken bone or a heart condition. Christians sometimes speak as though therapy is less spiritual than physiotherapy, or as though antidepressants require more justification than antibiotics.

I’ve never really understood that.

God could heal anxiety just as easily as He could heal a broken leg. He could remove depression just as easily as He could cure pneumonia. The issue has never been whether God is able to heal. The issue is whether we’re willing to accept that He may choose to work through ordinary means as well as extraordinary ones.

Elijah Under the Tree

One of my favourite stories in Scripture is found in 1 Kings 19.

Elijah has reached the end of himself. He’s exhausted, overwhelmed, and asking God to let him die.

What does God do?

He feeds him.

He lets him sleep.

Then He feeds him again.

Only afterwards comes the deeper conversation.

I find that deeply comforting.

God doesn’t begin with a lecture. He gives him a snack & a snooze! He doesn’t rebuke Elijah for lacking faith. He cares for the whole person.

That’s important because anxiety and depression aren’t simply spiritual issues. They affect our thoughts, emotions, bodies, relationships, and ability to function day-to-day. The God who made us understands that better than anyone.

Stewardship, Not Failure

For the last year, I’ve taken medication to help manage depression, anxiety, and migraines.

I don’t broadcast it, because frankly it’s nobody’s business, but I don’t hide it either, because I don’t feel ashamed of it.

Not because medication is the answer. It isn’t.

My hope is still in Christ. I still pray, read Scripture, worship, and trust God. Taking medication hasn’t replaced any of those things.

The older I get, the more convinced I become that seeking appropriate help is often an act of stewardship rather than a lack of faith.

A therapist is not a replacement for Jesus. A GP is not a replacement for prayer. Medication is not a replacement for faith. They are simply tools that God may choose to use.

The God who can heal instantly is not threatened by the means He chooses to work through.

So What Should You Do?

If you’ve read this far and found yourself quietly thinking, “I think he’s describing me,” then let me gently encourage you not to do what I did.

Don’t keep it to yourself.

Talk to someone you trust. Speak to your spouse, a close friend, a family member, or a church leader. You don’t need to have all the answers before you start the conversation.

I would also strongly encourage you to speak to your GP. Not because every struggle requires medication, but because anxiety and depression can have all sorts of contributing factors, and a good doctor can help you begin making sense of what’s going on and point you towards appropriate support.

For some people that support may include counselling or therapy. For others it may involve medication. For many it will involve a combination of approaches. There is no prize for struggling alone, and there is no shame in accepting help.

If you’re part of a healthy church, let your church family walk with you too. Your church is not a replacement for your GP, and your GP is not a replacement for your church. One can help care for your mental and physical health. The other can pray with you, encourage you, support you, and remind you of God’s truth when you’re struggling to see it for yourself.

And if you are experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please don’t carry that alone.

Tell someone.

Tell your spouse. Tell a friend. Tell a church leader. Tell your GP.

Do it today.

Asking for urgent help is not weakness. It is not failure. It is not a lack of faith.

It is a courageous step towards life.

If You’re Carrying This Right Now

If anxiety or depression is part of your story right now, hear this from someone who has walked that road and, in some ways, is still walking it.

God has not abandoned you.

Your struggle is not proof that you lack faith.

There is no shame in seeking help.

The choice was never Jesus or the GP.

Sometimes one of the ways Jesus cares for us is through the GP.

And there is nothing unspiritual about receiving the help He provides.