Defining Anxiety and Where it Comes From

Now that we are finally getting into true Spring - you know, the time in the Midwest where we can finally start believing it’s going to be decent weather and generally not expect another blizzard to hit us out of nowhere – people are beginning to get back out into the world, make plans with friends and family and feel the joy of all of the exciting things to look forward to.

On the other hand, there are plenty of people who have look towards these typically outgoing months with a sense of anxious worry, knowing that they’ll be invited places to spend time with people and imagining all of the terrible ways those interactions could go wrong. Social anxiety is just one way in which our worries, stressors and fears can creep up on us and rob us our peace, our joy and simply being able to live our lives.

For the month of May, we’re going to take a look at the difficult problem of anxiety and see what the Bible has to say. To understand anxiety, we need to look back at how we have viewed and even treated it over the past few decades. From the late 80’s through the early 2000’s, anxiety disorders and many other mental health disorders were suspected and understood to be the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. Throughout that period, medications prescribed to treat this imbalance became a go-to answer for many patients suffering from anxiety and sales soon surpassed billions of dollars a year. By the mid 2000’s, however, a significant pushback began to rise to the surface as CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, showed to not only be effective in conjunction with medication, but was even shown to be consistently successful on its own. In fact, according to Dr. Ronald Pies, Editor in Chief Emeritus of Psychiatric Times, places a large portion of the blame for the confusion and misunderstanding surrounding mental health disorders and their causes at the feet of the pharmaceutical companies who used the idea that these issues were caused by chemical imbalances to push their products. He wrote, “But in my view, the most powerful force fueling this belief was not what psychiatrists said or did; but rather, the huge wave of “direct-to-consumer” advertising that pharmaceutical companies heavily financed, during the 1980s and 90s.”

https://www.return.life/p/the-myth-of-the-chemical-imbalance

Today, the modern understanding of anxiety disorder and other mental health disorders is believed to be a combination of both nature and nurture; while there are potentially genetic factors which could predispose someone towards anxiety, there are also environmental, sociological and experiential factors at play, as well. While the chemical imbalance theory has been effectively debunked for over a decade, clinicians do still report positive responses especially for patients with extreme symptoms like chronic anxiety and suicidality, but CBT is now frequently seen as the “gold standard” for mental health care. For some people, hearing this information could elicit reason for hope since, as many in the field of psychiatry have put it, “genes are not destiny,” meaning that even if there is a history of anxiety disorder in your family and you have struggled with it in your life, there are proven steps that you can take which have been shown to lead to an anxiety-free and even medication-free life. On the other hand, others may feel even more discouraged thinking, “I’ve tried that and it didn’t work,” or even worse, “So, you’re saying my anxiety is all my fault?”

The idea that a problem is completely outside of my control is freeing in the sense that it absolves me of any responsibility in correcting the problem. If science is now coming to the conclusion that I, in fact, do have the ability to make choices which can, through the application of time, hard work and consistency, lead to me overcoming my anxiety then I now bear some responsibility, at least to myself, to do so. Jim Folk, founder and president of anxietycentre.com after personally wrestling through a 12-year bout with anxiety and panic disorder, says:

“Anxiety is caused by specific underlying factors – those behaviors (thoughts and actions), situations, and circumstances that motivate anxious behavior. If you believe anxiety disorder is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain rather than your underlying factors, you would take a medication to correct the imbalance rather than working on addressing your underlying factors. Since anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications are largely ineffective, you could take a medication (or multiple medications) for years and not see meaningful or lasting progress. Applying a remedy for the wrong problem is not going to solve the real problem. Therefore, it's unrealistic to expect to overcome anxiety disorder if the real cause isn’t successfully addressed. Addressing the true cause of anxiety disorder equips us with the necessary strategies and tools to overcome it. Any other approach will cause the problem and its symptoms to remain.”

https://www.anxietycentre.com/myths/anxiety-caused-by-chemical-imbalance-in-the-brain/

With this understanding of anxiety disorders, what the Bible has to say about anxiety seems to take on a much clearer and practical meaning. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus commands His followers:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Philippians 4:6-7 tell us:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

While 1 Peter 5:6-7 says:

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

Even going back to the Old Testament, in Isaiah 35:3-4 we read:

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

You might have noticed that the problem of anxiety is consistently presented as something that a person can choose to indulge in or actively stop. That doesn’t mean stop immediately and move on, but rather it’s shown as something you do have agency and charge over. According to modern science and biblical teaching, anxiety doesn’t have to control you but you can learn to control your anxiety.

Over the coming weeks, we’re going to be looking at 3 different types of anxiety sources – past sins and failures, unfulfilled desires and death and the unknown. We’ll examine 3 different people in scripture and see what we can learn about God to help us deal with our own anxieties today.