The Telegraph is publishing dangerous myths about Justin Welby and therapy

As a serving clergyman who has struggled with serious mental health challenges, I was deeply triggered by Celia Walden’s recent column in The Telegraph, entitled: “What’s the point of God if even Justin Welby is seeing a therapist?”

In it, she recounts her own lukewarm experience of trying therapy to help with the stress of writing a book - which included the suggestion to “tie your hair up very tightly for the whole day…Then you can really shake it out”.

Walden admits that her “misgivings” stem from that odd advice and concedes that therapy can be lifesaving when it comes to “the big stuff”. But while seeking professional help “would make sense for anyone else”, she says, it does not for Justin Welby.

Instead, she suggests that the former Archbishop of Canterbury should have “got himself an appointment with the Almighty,” asking pointedly: “Why couldn’t God help?”

I have never told someone with cancer to refuse chemotherapy and “just pray.” Why is mental health treated differently?

Walden’s comments come after Welby told Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast that seeing both a psychiatrist and a psychologist had been “very helpful”.

I want to be clear: I am not writing as a defender of Welby’s leadership. He was forced to resign 18 months ago after a damning report into the CofE’s most prolific abuser, John Smyth, revealed deep safeguarding failures in the Church that hurt many people. 

But implying that a Christian leader should not need therapy because he has access to God is something else entirely.

Hope and healthcare

I am a priest who lives with depression and anxiety. I have just come through one of the most horrendous mental health crises of my life. I am in recovery now, but it was a dark and frightening time. As someone who has faced trauma and sought medical support alongside my faith, I can say without hesitation: taking medication is not a denial of God, nor is it a failure of faith. It is healthcare.

When I read Waldon’s suggestion that Welby could simply have “extended himself on an imaginary couch and confided” in God instead of seeing a psychotherapist, it struck at something very personal. It fed the shame I felt when my doctor first told me that I needed medication. I remember thinking: Does this mean my faith is weak? Am I a hypocrite for preaching hope while taking antidepressants? My doctor reassured me this was most resolutely not the case. There is no shame in treatment. Taking medication is not faithlessness.

Welby himself spoke about taking antidepressants back in 2019. Yet commentary like this risks reinforcing the very stigma many of us are trying to dismantle. Should I ignore medical advice, discard my medication and rely solely on prayer? I have never told someone with cancer to refuse chemotherapy and “just pray.” I have never suggested that insulin betrays belief. So why is mental health treated any differently?

Faith and hope

Walden writes that “people either believe in one or the other” - therapy or religion. But that is a false choice. Scripture itself is unflinching about despair. Elijah wished for death (1 Kings 19:4). David wrote from anguish (see Psalm 6, 13, 22, 51). Job wrestled openly with suffering (Job 3:11). Their pain did not invalidate their faith.

Taking medication is not a denial of God, nor is it a failure of faith

I remain in recovery. I continue to seek God and serve my community. There is no contradiction in that, and publicly suggesting otherwise does real harm. It reinforces stigma in believers already struggling and risks pushing vulnerable people further into silence.

Faith does not make Christians – or Christian leaders - immune to mental illness. But it can sustain us through it. And sometimes sustaining life requires medicine. We must be careful not to shame those who seek the help that may just keep them alive.