Can Christians Take Antidepressants?
1) Direct Answer
Yes. A Christian may take prescribed antidepressant medicine under proper care, with prayer and faith in God as the true Healer, so long as it does not lead to bondage, loss of sobriety, or become a substitute for repentance and trust in the Lord.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible shows that practical helps for the body are permitted. “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Timothy 5:23). That wasn’t unbelief; it was a measured, need-based help.
- Paul traveled with “Luke, the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). God did not condemn the presence of a doctor among His people.
- The Good Samaritan used oil and wine on wounds (Luke 10:34), showing the lawful use of remedies.
- Yet healing is God’s work: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church… the prayer of faith shall save the sick” (James 5:14-15).
- We must not be ruled by anything: “I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12). And we must keep a clear, Spirit-led mind: “Be not drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
- God also addresses the inner life: He gives “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3), His peace guards the heart and mind (Philippians 4:6-7), and we cast all our care upon Him (1 Peter 5:7).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- You see, some afflictions are mainly physical, some are wounds of the soul, and some are heavy spiritual oppression. A pill cannot forgive sin or cast out a devil, and a sermon cannot replace food, rest, or a necessary aid to the body. So we seek the Lord first, obey His Word, receive prayer, and, when needed, use lawful helps without condemnation.
- Medicine is a tool; God is the Healer. If a measured, doctor-directed treatment helps stabilize the body while you feed on the Word and walk in obedience, it’s not unbelief. But if any drug begins to rule you, dull your sobriety, or excuse disobedience, that’s wrong.
- Guard the order:
- Go to God first—prayer, repentance, confession, and the anointing of the elders.
- Stay in the Word, praise, fellowship, and clean living.
- If there’s ongoing need, use prescribed treatment wisely, avoid self-medicating, review it regularly with trustworthy care, and give thanks to God.
- Don’t condemn those who are struggling. Strengthen them. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and binds up wounds. He restores both mind and heart.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, the Bible never tells you to refuse help; it tells you to refuse bondage and unbelief. Keep Christ first, keep your mind clear, walk in the light, and let every remedy sit under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God heals—sometimes instantly, sometimes by process—but always to the glory of His Name.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Indictment
63-0707M §152
Now, Lord, confirm it right now while I'm before your throne. Take every one of these people, Lord; take the world out of us. Take me, Lord, while we're in your presence. Just take the world; wring our hearts. God, right now, pull the world and the care of the world away from us. Let us be consecrated Christians, oh, God, to be loving, and kind, and sweet, bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Won't you, Lord? We're before your throne. Sin has left a crimson stain on every one of us, but your blood can remit it, Lord, a...
God's covenant with Abraham
56-0428 §67
...rom cold, but from just over-speaking so much, four months straight. We leave right from here to Alaska. Now, beloved friends, maybe tomorrow, I'll finish my text or either take a new one and just let the preacher finish that while I'm gone. But, do you love Him and believe Him? Is all the scare gone, now? Look, you're Christians. How many Christians are here, tonight? All of you, now, that's Christians. Look that them hands that wasn't a few minutes ago, now they're up. Oh, praise God! Now you're Christians. Now y...
Why many Christians struggle to live the Christian life
57-0303A §25
The old church needs to be born again. Now, He never said, "I will polish up the old heart." He said, "I will take the old, stony heart out of you and put a new one in." That new heart... That new heart sits right in the middle of your innermost being. The heart is the occupant place of the soul. They didn't know that in science till not long ago. The old critical science used to say, "God made a mistake when He said, 'As a man believeth in his heart.' The Bible was wrong." Said, "There's no mental faculties in the...
At Kadesh-Barnea
56-0527 §39
Everybody can go good; everybody can praise the Lord while the Holy Spirit is falling in a congregation of people. But let trouble arise and watch what takes place. Watch what happens then. Are you falling around? Are you one of the mixed multitude? Are you the person who can't (as the street expression say), can't take it? That's it. You can't stand up to it. Brother, if you've got that way, backslidings and ups-and-downs and ins-and-outs, why don't you come to Calvary and die out to yourself and be borned again o...
Questions and Answers, Part 3
64-0830M §28
...your appetites are different; you eat different; but you all eat food. But now, just from ... one individual being just like the other one, you're differ one from another. Christians do the same thing. You can't say, "Now..." Do all speak with tongues, do all prophesy, do all...? See? You have to watch these things, because a Christian takes up the habits of a Christian; and they live like a Christian. Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Notice: "In my name they shall cast out devils; they sh...