169 : Is Anxiety a Lack of Faith? | Dr. Sabrina Gunn Pt 1

Trauma, Mental Health, and Nervous System Regulation

What if anxiety isn't always a lack of faith? What if the emotional reactions you've spent years praying away are actually revealing places that need healing?

In Part One of this two-part conversation, Megan Babcock sits down with faith-based psychiatrist Dr. Sabrina Gunn, founder of Exusia Psychiatry and author of The Regulated Church: Trauma, Attachment, and Kingdom Alignment.

Dr. Gunn shares how her own battle with stage three colon cancer deepened her understanding of faith, emotions, and nervous system regulation and why loving Jesus and knowing Scripture doesn't make us immune to anxiety, trauma responses, or emotional dysregulation.

Together, Megan and Dr. Gunn challenge spiritual bypassing and explore what can happen when faith, emotional healing, and mental health support work together rather than against one another.

Sometimes needing help isn't evidence of weak faith. It may be an invitation into deeper healing and maturity.

Key Takeaways

• Mental health struggles are not automatically evidence of weak faith. Caring for our emotional and mental health can exist alongside deep dependence on God.
• Emotions are information, not the enemy. Learning to recognize and understand what we're feeling can reveal areas that need our attention.
• Spiritual bypassing can leave wounds unaddressed. Prayer and Scripture matter, but using spiritual truths to avoid processing pain can keep us from reaching the root.
• Knowing truth and accessing it while emotionally activated are different things. Trauma and learned survival responses can affect our ability to respond the way we genuinely desire.
• Calling requires capacity. Spiritual gifts and leadership don't eliminate the need for emotional maturity, healing, and self-awareness.
• Our healing impacts how we lead others. As we become healthier ourselves, we increase our capacity to walk alongside people who are hurting.

Continue with Part Two In Part Two, Megan and Dr. Gunn move from understanding faith, trauma, mental health, and nervous system regulation to asking how churches can put that understanding into practice.

Connect with Dr. Sabrina Gunn

Dr. Sabrina Gunn is a faith-based psychiatrist, founder of Exusia Psychiatry, and author of The Regulated Church: Trauma, Attachment, and Kingdom Alignment. Dr. Sabrina Gunn is a board-certified psychiatrist, author, speaker, and founder of Exousia Psychiatry. Her life’s mission is to help people heal emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and relationally by combining evidence-based psychiatric care with the transformative power of Jesus Christ. After surviving stage III colon cancer, she developed an even deeper passion for helping others experience hope, restoration, and lasting healing while raising awareness of colon cancer in young adults. Dr. Gunn is the author of The Regulated Church: Trauma, Attachment, and Kingdom Alignment, where she explores the intersection of trauma, attachment, nervous system regulation, and biblical discipleship. Whether she is caring for patients, teaching internationally, or equipping churches, Dr. Gunn’s heart is to see people become whole so they can fully walk in the purpose God has for their lives..

If your church, ministry, organization, or leadership team would benefit from training on trauma, attachment, emotional regulation, mental health, and creating healthier environments for the people you serve, consider inviting Dr. Gunn to speak or facilitate a training.

Connect, Invite Dr. Sabrina Gunn to train your church or organization and get her Dr. book, The Regulated Church: Trauma, Attachment, and Kingdom Alignment https://linktr.ee/dr_sabrina

About the Podcast

It's Your Story to Tell is a podcast where courageous people share the hardest parts of their stories and how they found hope, healing, and transformation.

Through honest conversations rooted in faith, neuroscience, and trauma-informed principles, we explore what it means to overcome adversity, build healthier relationships, strengthen emotional resilience, and discover that your past does not have to define your future.

Every story shared is an invitation to believe that healing is possible and that your story matters.

About the Host

Megan Babcock is a Board Certified Holistic Nurse Coach, Certified Trauma and Crisis Mental Health Coach, Certified Brain Health Coach, Certified Flourishing Coach, speaker, bestselling author, and founder of It's Your Story to Tell, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals heal from life's hardest seasons and discover hope, purpose, and transformation.

Drawing from more than two decades of experience in healthcare, neuroscience-informed coaching, and her own journey of overcoming childhood trauma, abuse, unhealthy relationship patterns, perfectionism, and people-pleasing, Megan helps individuals understand the connection between the brain, nervous system, emotions, relationships, and faith.

She is the creator of The Unstuck Key™, a practical framework that helps people move from overwhelm and reactivity to calm, clarity, and confident communication.

Learn more and get free personal development resources at www.itsyourstorytotell.com