How to Explain Depression and Anxiety to Kids: A Biblical Approach

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A listener wrote in with this question: "How do you explain depression/anxiety to kids? My husband is taking a leave of absence due to the requirements of his job while starting treatment for anxiety and depression. Just thinking through how to explain all this to them as we talk about how he will be home for a while."

To the parent who wrote in: I'm sorry that you and your family are walking through this right now, but I'm grateful this question came in, because explaining mental health struggles, no matter how minor or severe they are, can seem a bit daunting. As we talk with our kids about mental health, we need to make sure we are framing it within the Christian worldview.

Start With a Bigger Question: Why Do We Suffer?

As we think through talking about mental health with our children, specifically when someone we love is struggling with mental health issues, I think we need to focus first on a broader question: Why do we suffer? Both the question and its answer apply to so many aspects of life.

This is actually a question we have an entire unit on in the updated edition of our Comparative Worldview curriculum. If you have not yet taken your children between the ages of 8 and 12 through Comparative Worldview, I highly recommend you do so. This unit on suffering and why we suffer is completely new. Most of the curriculum is new but focused on what we had covered in the past, while this unit is entirely new in the version we released in June 2026.

As we think through the question "Why do we suffer?", we want to take our children directly to Scripture.

What Genesis 2 and 3 Show Our Kids

The first passage we want to look at is Genesis 2:15–17.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:15–17, ESV)

We can talk with our kids about the one command God gave to humans. They were allowed to eat of every tree in the garden. There was just one tree they couldn't eat from: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Then we want to help our children see what happened. I'm going to share a longer portion of Scripture here, because I think it's important for us to read the whole thing with our kids so they understand where the biblical narrative is going and what it reveals. I think it's really important to take our kids to Genesis 3:1–19.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:1–19, ESV)

Two Kinds of Evil: Moral Evil and Natural Evil

As we talk through this passage with our kids, we can ask, "What is revealed here?" Adam and Eve rebelled against God. And what was the result? The serpent was cursed, and the ground was cursed. Adam and Eve weren't cursed, but they were given punishments. We see this very clearly.

We want to help our kids see that Adam and Eve's sin resulted in two types of evil: moral evil and natural evil.

Moral evil is the wrong things we choose to do. We've all inherited the sin nature from Adam, and we choose to do things like lying, cheating, being disrespectful, hurting others, and stealing. All of these are moral evil.

Natural evil is the brokenness of nature because God cursed the ground. These are things like floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and sicknesses.

We want to help our kids see these two different types of evil that have resulted from Adam and Eve's sin. In the fifth unit of the updated Comparative Worldview curriculum, we spend a whole unit looking at what's wrong with the world and what the solution is. We look at the biblical worldview and competing worldviews, and where the evidence in the world around us points.

Making It a Rhythm in Daily Life

Once our kids understand that there's moral evil and there's natural evil, then anytime we see something going wrong in the world around us, we can ask with them, "Is this the result of moral evil, or is it the result of natural evil?"

When a natural disaster happens, whether in the country where you live or in a country across the world, we can talk about how that is natural evil. When a store in your city gets looted, or some other crime is committed, or even when you blow it and lose it with your kids, talk about how those sins are the result of moral evil.

Sometimes the evil we see is a combination of both moral evil and natural evil. For example, a hurricane sometimes causes much more destruction than it would have because humans foolishly decided to build a city below sea level. A city built below sea level is obviously going to have a lot more damage from a hurricane than a city built above sea level. Or a person can get lung cancer, which is a form of natural evil, because they chose to smoke cigarettes their whole life. So sometimes natural evils are the result of some form of moral evil.

We just want this to be a rhythm in our daily lives: identifying whether the difficult thing we're seeing is the result of moral evil or the result of natural evil. We want our kids to have those two mental categories every time they look at the pain and brokenness of the world around them.

How to Explain a Parent's Depression and Anxiety

Now let's transition into how we help explain mental illness to kids. I'm going to model how you can talk with your kids about anxiety and depression in the specific situation this parent wrote in about, and then we'll apply these conversations to any struggle with mental illness.

To the parent who asked this question, you can simply say something like, "Daddy's going to be at home with us for a few months rather than going to work." Then start off with what is good about that: "We can be so thankful that we're going to have Daddy around more. That's something we can be really thankful for."

Then you can say, "But Daddy's going to be around more because he's struggling with a sickness." And then you can ask your kids, "Is sickness moral evil or natural evil?"

"That's right. Sickness is natural evil. It's a result of Adam and Eve's sin. Because of that sin, God cursed the ground, so sicknesses are the result of natural evil. Right now, Daddy's body isn't sick, but his mind has a sickness that's making him feel sad and making him feel a little anxious."

Then you can say, "Remember how we talked about how sometimes humans can do unwise things that make natural evil worse, like building a city below sea level or smoking cigarettes? Well, Daddy is being very wise, and he is not just letting the sickness get worse. Daddy knows that taking some time off work to help his mind heal is a wise thing to do. So rather than adding to this natural evil, Daddy is making a wise choice to help his mind heal."

You're going to want to frame this positively, because it is a good thing that your husband is taking some time off to work on these mental health issues.

When Kids Ask Questions You Can't Answer Yet

After you've explained this, you've set the category that this is a form of natural evil, and that your husband is being wise in how he is working through it. Then you can open it up for questions. Let your kids know that you are always willing to talk through their questions, even if you don't have an answer.

As I've mentioned many times before, it's okay if your children ask you a question and you think, "Oh my goodness, I have no idea how to answer this. I don't even know if it would be appropriate for me to answer this." You can buy yourself some more time and affirm their question: "I'm so grateful that you are thinking about this carefully. You know what? I'm going to need a little more time to think through your question. But tomorrow at breakfast (or tomorrow afternoon, whenever it is), we're going to sit down and talk about this more."

You just bought yourself 24 more hours to talk with your spouse, to talk with a friend, and to seek God through his Word, so you can figure out whether this is an appropriate question to answer. And if it isn't, you can figure out how to wisely tell your kids, "This isn't a question I'm going to answer right now."

A Comparison Kids Understand: Having a Cold

As you think through explaining mental illness to your kids, a helpful parallel that kids can usually understand is physical sickness.

You can ask your kids, "When you have a cold, what happens? Yeah, that's right. Your throat gets sore, your nose gets stuffy, your head starts to hurt, and you feel really tired." Talk through the effects of a cold, and then ask, "Is there anything I can do that makes you feel all better right away? Well, there are things I can do that can help you, but I can't do anything that takes the cold away right then and there. Colds usually take a few weeks to heal, no matter how much you want them to heal right away. There's nothing you can do to make a cold go away right away."

Then you can explain, "We might want Daddy to get better in a day, or in a week, or in a month, but it's going to take his mind a while to heal, just like it takes our bodies a while to heal from a cold. I can't make you feel all better in one day, and it's going to take Daddy a while to heal from this."

How Kids Can Love and Pray

"But what do I do when you have a cold? That's right. I show you that I love you by taking care of you, bringing you soup, bringing you tissues, rubbing your back, and reminding you that I love you. Daddy doesn't really need soup and tissues right now, but you know what we can do? We can love Daddy. We can remind him how much we love him. If he needs some quiet time, we can be quiet so that we don't bother him." Talk through your husband's different needs at this time.

Then you can say, "We can pray for him too. Because who is the ultimate One who heals us? That's right, it's God. Even as our bodies and our immune systems are fighting off a cold, who designed our bodies so that we have immune systems? That's right, it's God. And God is the designer of our minds too. So as Daddy seeks to get healthy in his mind, it's God who is going to bring about the healing. So we can pray for Daddy."

When Someone Else You Love Is Struggling

Even if you're not in the same situation, even if the person dealing with a mental health issue is someone else in your family or someone outside your family, I still think you can take this same approach. Show how mental illnesses are somewhat similar to physical illnesses in that they're the result of natural evil. We can either do things that are wise in helping our minds heal from mental health struggles, or we can do things that are unwise and add to those struggles. And just like with physical sickness, it takes a while for our bodies to heal. The same thing is true with mental health struggles: healing generally doesn't happen overnight.

The overarching goal in this conversation is to help our children understand that mental illness is a form of natural evil. There's generally no quick fix, and they are not responsible for someone else's healing. That person is responsible for making wise decisions, and ultimately it's God who brings about the healing.

Then we want to help our kids think through ways they can intentionally love that person and pray for them. Depending on the situation and the relationship, loving a person might actually mean not seeing them for a while, because they might not be in a place where a visit would be a good idea. But we can always, always pray for others.

A Prayer for Your Family

My prayer for you is the same as always: that no matter the situation you and the children God has placed in your care find yourselves in, you would trust that God is working all things together for your good by using all things to conform you more into the image of his Son.

If you'd like to walk your children ages 8 to 12 through why we suffer and what's wrong with the world, our updated Comparative Worldview curriculum covers it in a brand-new unit on suffering. You can find it in our shop. For more conversations like this one, sign up for our newsletter below. And if you have a question you'd like answered on a future episode, you can submit it through our website.