What does the Bible say about depression?

AnxietyCare note

Short answer

Care note first: if you are struggling, this page is information, not treatment or counselling. Depression is a real medical condition, it responds to treatment, and asking a doctor or a mental health professional for help is a wise and responsible thing to do. If you are thinking about harming yourself, please contact your local emergency number or a crisis line now.

The Bible does not use the word depression, and it does not treat deep despair as a failure of faith. It records faithful people in exactly that state, at length, without rebuking them for it:

Elijah, after his greatest public victory, asked God to let him die (1 Kings 19:4).
Job cursed the day he was born (Job 3:1; Job 3:11).
Jeremiah said much the same (Jeremiah 20:14; Jeremiah 20:18).
David wrote psalms of open anguish (Psalms 42:5; Psalms 42:11; Psalms 88:1; Psalms 88:18).
Paul described being so burdened he despaired of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8).
Jesus himself was deeply distressed and sorrowful to the point of death (Mark 14:33; Mark 14:34).

Roughly a third of the Psalms are laments, and they are in Scripture as prayer, not as examples of what not to do. Psalms 88 ends in darkness with no resolution at all, and God saw fit to include it.

Question

What does the Bible say about depression?

Analysis

What the Bible does not say

It is worth stating plainly, because sufferers are often told otherwise:

Not taught	What the text actually shows
That despair proves weak faith	Elijah, Jeremiah and Paul are among the strongest figures in Scripture, and all three said they had had enough
That a believer should not admit it	The laments are prayers, spoken to God, in the first person, and preserved
That it is always caused by personal sin	Job's friends argued exactly that, at length, and the book records that God said they were wrong (Job 42:7)
That the right response is to cheer up	Scripture instead commands weeping with those who weep (Romans 12:15) and warns against cheerful songs sung over a heavy heart (Proverbs 25:20)

How Scripture treats it

God's care is described as attentive to physical need, not only spiritual. When Elijah wanted to die, the first thing he was given was sleep and food, twice, before any conversation about his calling (1 Kings 19:5; 1 Kings 19:6; 1 Kings 19:7).
Lament is a permitted form of prayer. The psalmists ask how long, and why, and whether God has forgotten (Psalms 13:1; Psalms 13:2; Psalms 42:9; Psalms 77:7; Psalms 77:9).
Nearness is promised specifically to the crushed, rather than to the composed (Psalms 34:18; Psalms 147:3; Isaiah 61:1).
Burdens are meant to be shared with other people, not carried privately (Galatians 6:2; Ecclesiastes 4:9; Ecclesiastes 4:10; 2 Corinthians 1:4).
The horizon is not the present state (Psalms 30:5; Romans 8:18; Revelation 21:4).

On treatment

Scripture is not a medical text and does not address clinical depression as medicine understands it. Christians differ on how they combine spiritual and medical care, but the mainstream position across traditions is that medical treatment and prayer are not rivals. Luke, the writer of a Gospel and of Acts, is called a physician (Colossians 4:14), and Paul gave Timothy a plain physical remedy for a physical complaint (1 Timothy 5:23).

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

1 Kings 19:4bsb
while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
Job 3:1bsb
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
Job 3:11bsb
Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?
Jeremiah 20:14bsb
Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
Jeremiah 20:18bsb
Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?
Psalms 42:5bsb
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.
Psalms 42:11bsb
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
Psalms 88:1bsb
A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.
Psalms 88:18bsb
You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.
2 Corinthians 1:8bsb
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
Mark 14:33bsb
He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.
Mark 14:34bsb
Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”
Job 42:7bsb
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.
Romans 12:15bsb
Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Proverbs 25:20bsb
Like one who removes a garment on a cold day or vinegar poured on a wound is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.
1 Kings 19:5bsb
Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.