Mental Illness Isn’t Always Spiritual or Demonic

At a young age, I battled with intrusive thoughts—though at the time I didn’t have that label for them. I remember laying in bed as a little girl, gripped by a single phrase that wouldn’t stop replaying in my head: Blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

It started after I read about the unpardonable sin. Jesus told the Pharisees that any sin could be forgiven, except blaspheming the Holy Spirit. From that moment on, thought after thought assailed me, “Blaspheme the Holy Spirit.” As a little girl, these thoughts brought on panic attacks; fear of eternal damnation and that I was being attacked by demonic forces gripped me. Both could only mean that God’s love was far from me.

This is a common belief propagated within some factions of the church. As I’ve sought to untangle my understanding of my faith with my mental health, multiple people suggested my struggles were demonic. When I was a new, uncertain believer, they terrified me. As a mature, more studied believer, they hurt me. Have you felt the wound of these words too? Perhaps it was your anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, or mood swings. Someone, trying to understand you and extract a biblical answer that could fix your situation, suggested that you may be oppressed by other forces. Maybe this frightened you or inflicted more pain. Let me encourage you, friend: Mental illnesses don’t equate to demonic oppression.

What Is Demonic Oppression?

Growing up in youth groups and Christian summer camps, I heard my fair-share of Christians supposedly encountering demons. They frightened me. I lived in terror, looking around every darkened corner wondering if a demon lurked nearby. Though Christians often assured me that demons couldn’t possess believers, it seemed they could do pretty much anything else to me. Circling back to my OCD tendencies, I prayed ritual, word-for-word prayers each night to “guard” me from the demonic realm. 

Yet, what we often hear within some Christians circles sounds more like Hollywood’s version of the demonic rather than the Bible’s. This is the first question we should ask ourselves when discerning stories from Christians of demonic forces. Is it in line with what Scripture describes? 

Some stories come closer to the biblical accounts, resembling more of what we see in the Gospels and Acts. Which in part is good because they reflect more of the biblical accounts rather than the latest horror films, but they still don’t match the Bible as a whole. We see demonic oppression in the Gospels and Acts, but there was a reason for it. Satan saw the gospel going forth; he saw Jesus coming to fulfill the gospel and the apostles taking it to the ends of the earth. For that reason, Satan essentially threw a giant, spiritual tantrum. He wanted to thwart the gospel, and so demonic oppression became much more apparent in those times. (For more on how mental illnesses aren’t demonic oppression, I highly recommend Simonetta Carr’s book Broken Pieces and the God Who Mends Them).

When we consider the biblical narratives as a whole, we don’t see this kind of spiritual warfare going on much anywhere else. Not only that, we don’t have any instructions given to us (Jesus instructs his disciples, but we never find instructions given to the crowds or within the biblical epistles) about how to recognize or deal with demonic oppression. Instead, we’re told to preach the gospel, follow God’s law, and flee from—not approach or attack—Satan (James 4:7). 

Satan and his fellow fallen angels are real, and they are still trying to undermine the gospel today. Satan tempts us as believers, as he tempted Jesus, to turn from God and embrace sin. But he can’t attack you like the horror films like to portray him. You’re safeguarded and filled by the Holy Spirit (John 14:15–18; 1 Cor. 6:19). If you’re saved by faith in Christ, you are safe from demonic oppression. 

Is Lack of Healing A Sign of Demonic Influence or Lack of Faith?

Satan also isn’t the cause of your mental illnesses. Mental illnesses are a result of physical illnesses. It’s not about riling up enough faith, praying harder, or memorizing specific Bible verses to cure mental illnesses. It’s medical and psychiatric help from professionals—and even then it doesn’t always mean complete healing, but learning to cope better and finding relief. 

I’ve heard people question that because a mental illness hasn’t been cured, that must mean it’s something spiritual—whether demonic or a sin issue. The truth is, some people have victory over mental illness while others continue to battle, just as some will have miraculous healing of their cancer while others don’t. 

For those of us who will never experience full healing, no amount of Bible verses memorized, self-forgetfulness, or prayer will change that. For some of us, therapy may make it easier, but it will not make it completely gone. We will be given skills to work with the illness, but the illness will remain. Pills may numb away some of the pain, quiet some of the thoughts, pause some of the nightmares, and dial back the anxiety, but the illness will still haunt us in the background.

That doesn’t mean we’re faithless or demon-possessed. It doesn’t mean we’re not trying hard or haven’t spent enough time on our knees. This illness isn’t a sign of immaturity. We didn’t cause this by being too self-focused. It means this world is fractured. Just as those suffering physical ailments, and we are all longing for the renewal of our earthly bodies. In the meantime, may we each suffer faithfully, carried along by the Spirit who supplies such faith to each of us.

If you’re struggling with mental illnesses and have heard the crushing and offensive words that suggest you’re demon-possessed, I’m grieving with you. Those words weren’t only hurtful but untrue. Jesus has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13–14 ESV). Your mental illnesses are no cause of your own or a lack of faith. They’re a painful illness. Take courage as the wounds of those words ache, that God is with you, the Holy Spirit indwells and keeps you, and Jesus has redeemed you. And one day he will draw his children into eternal life, where all mental illnesses will be done away.

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