Anxiety affects us all at times. In spite of our technological advances that make our life "easier" we appear to have more and more stress. A third of everyone will suffer from some kind of anxiety disorder.
The Symptoms of Anxiety
One may experience some of these symptoms or possibility all of them. Feelings of embarrassment and shame come up for people as they talk about their private thinking and episodes. This sometimes compounds the issue making it a private problem and keeping us from reaching out for help and support. It is important to know that people do and recover from anxiety. The first step is to find some one "safe" to share your feelings and what has happened. Just by talking about it and not so alone, tends to make it go away a little.
The Physiology of Anxiety
While anxiety has a lot to do with one's thinking and
spirituality, it also has to do with our body. One
physical aspect of anxiety involves centers in the brain called basal ganglia.
These centers deal with fear and fine motor skill. When
we experience panic or extreme anxiety, these centers become
over active. We may predict the worst, become shaky and
become too sensitive to body functions. We may think too
much and feel our heart beating. People who have had a
panic attack will do everything they can not to experience
another one. It feels like certain death and loss of
control. It is the over control that one does to prevent
another one that becomes the problem as well.
Deep Breathing and Meditation
Believe it or not, deep breathing and relaxation are very
beneficial to recovering from panic disorder and anxiety.
It is very difficult for the person who already experiences
anxiety to "calm themselves down." It usually takes a
counselor or someone who knows the process of progressive
relaxation. Just by giving yourself something else to
think about, can be the beginning steps to walking out of a
panic attack. How many people feel the relief in just
knowing they have Xanax (an anti-anxiety medication) to take.
It is knowing what to do that helps. Progressive
relaxations involves counting, breathing and tightening/relaxing
certain muscle groups. For Christians having a certain
prayer or passage from the Psalms to meditate is not only
connecting with God Who can help, but also gets out mind off of
the panicky thoughts.
The Illusion of
Control
Another element that people with anxiety
struggle with is the need to feel in control. The irony is
that the more they think that they control, the more out of
control they are. We try to control people, places, and
situations.
The irony is that we often try to control the things we don't have control over, which are "people, places and things" and yet we have learned to control what we can. We can change how we respond to live, rather than "re-act." Many who have been traumatized in their past, have structural differences to overcome in their brains. Brain scans demonstrate this. We can train ourselves to think differently and more realistically.
Treatment
In recovery from
anxiety, we work on "letting go," and changing irrational belief
systems. The process of counseling can be helpful to help
the client let go of negative beliefs and to think more healthy
thoughts. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which involves
changing negative beliefs or irrational beliefs into more
healthier beliefs. This is a process and once the thinking
has changed, the panic usually doesn't come back. One can
learn about themselves in this process. The whole crisis
once it is over can become a real blessing which has developed
muscles to handle life better by letting go more.
Medication can be useful for debilitating anxiety to help a person begin to feel better so that they can work on their thinking and lifestyle patterns that are causing the anxiety. It is important for the person to go beyond just wanting to "feel" better, but to "get" better. Pain can motivate us to work on our salvation process. (Hebrews 2:12) Unfortunately, once the pain is gone, sometimes so is the motivation to "get" better, that is to really have a change of heart.
One may need to prioritize and not do too many things. One may need to look also at what is happening in their spiritual life. It was St. Anthony the Great (250-356 AD), the father of monasticism, said that he "know longer feared God, but loves him." By this, he is not saying that he didn't have a healthy or reverential "fear of God." The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But we are talking about freedom from fear that was brought on by sin brings and how perfect love can cast out fear. As we progress in our healing from sin through love, we gain freedom from fear.
1 John 4:17-19
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is,
so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love;
but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.
But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19We
love Him because He first loved us.
Most of us cannot say that we have been made perfect in love, and thus we struggle with some form of anxiety because of our sin. But we an actually use our anxiety to help us get closer to God. So it is not something to be eradicated, but to be channeled. We should fear our own mortality so that we can make every opportunity to repent today, right this moment. God can then transform our minds and help us change our thinking.
We often get anxious over the wrong things. We often worry about temporal things, clothing, shelter, food, and provision. We worry what people think of us. Yet we don't worry about sinning. If we have a healthy fear of God and a healthy fear of sinning, we would be fearful of saying judgmental things or criticizing our brother. If we could only have a phobia of pornography or a fear of offending our spouse and children.
We need to remember that God loves us and has everything we
need for salvation and freedom from anxiety. May God grant
this to us by His Grace.
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