Let’s Talk Anxiety!

Pastor Vinnie MacIsaac

Feeling Anxious?

You’re not alone. More than 40 million adults in the USA, close to one in five people overall, have a clinical level of Anxiety.[i]

Anxiety and the understanding of where it comes from and how to manage it is perhaps one of the most under talked about conversations out there. And it is often worse in faith communities because we spiritualize it away or discredit it as being a lack of faith or somehow a sinful emotion.

First, as a Pastor and former mental health advocate, let me tell say this: Anxiety is normal! Let me say it again; say it with me, anxiety is normal! If you have anxiety sometimes, it means you’re a human with a pulse. If you don’t ever have anxiety then something is very atypical about your emotional makeup (and you should see someone about that). When I say anxiety is normal, I am not downplaying it either. I say it so that, if you’re living with it, you won’t have to feel alone; you’re not, you’re just human.

Understanding what Anxiety Is:

So, where does anxiety come from? Our brain, of course! Anxiety is the body’s natural response to acute stress, fear, or worry. Look, it is our brain’s job to keep us safe. And in case you missed the memo, in Genesis 3 we got exiled out of our safe, comfy, plush garden into a perilous, deadly, world where things want to eat us! God, being that awesome loving God that He is, planned for us and gave us some cool tools to take with us on our massive Time Out. God designed you to use your head and to sense when danger, or impending doom, may be coming your way.  Our limbic system was designed by God to be that part of our brain that organizes the cross-sections of emotions, motivation, and long term memories, and basically, it tells the rest of our executive brain what to do about its conclusions. Harvard Professor of Psychology, Daniel Schacter, summed it up this way, “The limbic system is where the subcortical structures meet the cerebral cortex”[ii]. So, when it comes to anxiety, it plays out like this:  you see the danger, you experience danger, you feel danger, you remember danger, and you, of course, know danger is real. So, not to be on the lookout for it either makes you stupid or somebody’s lunch! Do you see, now, why I say anxiety is normal? Smart people who don’t want to be someone’s lunch, listen to it.

Interestingly, the Hebrew scriptures paint the heart and mind as that same thing[iii] and the New Testament concurs[iv]. They refer to what is in your heart and mind as one, and state that what God says to one is spoken to both. It turns out they were right! As your brain is continually taking in all the data around you, one of the cool things your limbic system is doing is being the emotional powerhouse for you; and part of that is working in the background to make sure you stay safe! The limbic system is made up of the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, and hypothalamus. While you don’t need to understand them in deep detail, the big take away here is that they are your brain’s emotional dream team that informs your executive functions about the “matters of the heart,” including fear and “fight or flight” responses.
Maybe you grew up watching Spiderman cartoons or reading comics. If you did, you are aware that one of Spiderman’s powers is what he calls his “Spidey-sense.” It is his ability to sense when he is in trouble. I guess Stan Lee[v] when he was inventing superpowers figured spiders had advanced limbic systems (grin)[vi]. Normal levels of anxiety are one of our superpowers! And since it is a superpower, we need not be ashamed of it! Healthy people learn to hear it and figure out what triggered it so that they can do an assessment of the danger. Sometimes, anxiety can be a miscalculation of the limbic system, and we can choose to let it go once our executive functions kick in. Other times, it may be a healthy stressor that moves us to safe actions.  That said, I remember in one comic I read, something happened to Spiderman’s brain, and his spider-sense got turned all the way up to level ten and would not shut down! Not only did that make it impossible to tell whether the danger was real or not, but it was constant pain and shock to be stuck in a hyper-aware sense of fear that was not real, but rather vastly exaggerated by his own brain! When that happened, it would overwhelm him and would totally shut him down! His powers sabotaged him! In psychology, we call that, by the clinical name of General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and in possible advance or related stages, Social Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD).

Coming To Terms With Anxiety:

We live in a fallen world. All we have ever known, since leaving the womb, is the brokenness of this world. Not only is it fallen and broken, but there are eons of accumulative damage to our social structures, environment, and biology. If you have an unmanageable level of anxiety, or General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) or another version of anxiety, it is not your fault. Your spider-senses are stuck on overdrive, and without professional intervention, we can’t even assess if it a biological issue, trauma response, or learned response.  It makes sense that to me that 40 million adults in the USA have Anxiety Disorder; have you looked out the window lately?! There is no shame in getting help, taking treatment, and learning to manage your anxiety to the best of your ability. The shame is in not taking care of your emotional and mental health.

When Paul says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own”[vii] that includes your brain. Your brain is the most executive organ of your whole body, and it is the literal place in the body that the Holy Spirit dwells and communicates with us! It is high time Christians woke up and smelled the coffee; we are mandated by scripture to care for our brains. To neglect to do so is to damage property that belongs to God! Stop making excuses. Because the Apostle Paul tells us there are no excuses when he says,  “By the mercies of God, … present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”[viii] Sure, Sure, some of you are reading this and saying, Pastor needs to practice what he preaches and lose some weight, then. That is fair, and my reply to you is, I know what my plan is for weight loss; do you even have an idea for mental and emotional care? If not, get one!

Reasonable Action Steps:

(c)Marvel Comics

Where do you go when you get sick? To your doctor! Where do you go when your brain needs help? You also go to your doctor. Why? Because your brain is part of your body and so you take it to the same place, you take the rest of your body when it is sick. Only a qualified doctor, not your pastor, friends, family, or the internet, can determine if you need medical testing for biological factors, or a referral for a clinical psychologist, or counselor.[ix]

If you have already taken the step to get professional help, or your anxiety is not acute and is generally manageable (not clinical) here is a spiritual action-step process I use for keeping balance.[x]

1. Every Day Starts With Prayer And Meditation. You might think this is a given; you already do that. Again, as a pastor, I know people have much less prayer and meditation than they report. Prayer, even silent, quiet time just listening to God, calms the soul, grounds us, and takes us out of “rush rush” and “fight or flight” modes and puts us into ‘trusting someone more powerful is watching over us’ mode.

2. Notice Your Stress Level. Ask yourself if you’re a little on the edge today? Before you go into work or a social setting that may be chaotic (especially if you are an introvert), take 5-10 seconds and ask yourself how you are feeling. Sometimes it helps to identify a number, 1-10, as to where you think you are.

3. Recognize Anxiety. When it is there, it is there; denying it won’t help. Ironically, it can even give us one more thing to worry about. You can only press it down so long before it eats you. Remember, it is only a Super Villain when it is out of control.

4. Assess & Accept It. Is there any danger here? Is this old, emotional residue leaking back in? Before it steamrolls you, put the right labels on it. Anxiety is acute stress and fear, and sometimes it leaks in from old baggage we can’t do anything about. Sometimes, if we slap the right label on the fear quick enough, it reminds us of action items around that fear that will make life better. The point is, if you don’t label it right away, you can’t know if that fear has grounds or is leakage. Healthy anxiety is a superpower. When you feel it coming on in your chest or breathing, or fidgeting, recognize it in your head, ask yourself, “What is my Spidey-sense trying to tell me?”

5. Take A Deep Breath. Yep. It is basic, and we all know we need to breathe. But when we stop and take a deep breath or several, we feed our brain with large, fresh intakes of ‘fog-clearing’ oxygen. Exhaling has a therapeutic value to it. It is both a physical and psychological release, which lowers your pulse rate. Also, it gives you a chance to “catch up with your thoughts.” Some people have racing thoughts with anxiety. Breathing gives them a few minutes to stop, slow down, and let the executive function part of your brain catch up with the limbic system of your brain and get on the same page! The lag between the limbic and executive function sometimes just needs a few minutes to resolve.

6. Give It To God. You need to move on if it just leakage, or a real point of anxiety, either way. Give whatever to God because it is time to go full-on “1 Peter 5:7” on it! Oh yeah, you heard me right, kick it to, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.” God really does care for you! Stop. Let that sink in! And repeat 1 Peter 5:7, or Isaiah 35:4, Isaiah 40:31, John 14:1, Psalm 94:19, Philippians 4:6-7, Colossians 3:15, etc. Close your eyes. Breathe. Seek God. Pray. Ask Him to show you how much He cares for you! Ask him to show up and take this from you, so you don’t have to carry it. Trust that he is telling the truth in 1 Peter 5:7!

7. Get Help. Sometimes all the above steps don’t take the anxiety away at a rate fast enough to be able to function well. When that happens, it is time to see the doctor and get treatment right away. Some people at this stage insist I am wrong, and that people just need to have more faith. Some get upset with God for not answering them when they have cried out to him. Such thinking is mistaken. When you have a migraine that won’t go away or a cyst that keeps growing larger, or terrible back pain that will not end despite many faithful prayers, you go see the doctor! Why can’t God heal back pain, cysts, or migraines? Sure, but he is Sovereign. We don’t get to dictate the terms of our healing to God. Sometimes he heals through prayer and faith, and somethings he heals through prayer and faith but allows a doctor to be involved. Respect God’s sovereignty;  that, too, brings order to your life.

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 2

APPENDIX

Some music to meditate with:

He Is Able / Give Me God Mix

Neuroscience of Anxiety:

Psychology of Anxiety:

Related Blogs:

Criticism: Cuts Like A Knife

The Reserve Of Courage

The Joy Of Despair

The Exhaustion Gridlock

Lessons From The Edge Of The Skateboard

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spiritual growth resources!

Footnotes:

[i] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322877.php#6

[ii] Schacter, Daniel L. 2012. Psychology.sec. 3.20

[iii] Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 36:26-32,

[iv]  Hebrews 8:6–13

[v] Spiderman was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko with heavy influence from Jack Kirby.

[vi] And he might have been on to something. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/science/mapping-the-tiny-brain-of-the-aristocrat-of-arachnids.html

[vii] 1 Corinthians 6:19

[viii] Romans 12:1 NKJV

[ix] Treatment for Anxiety Disorders often includes both medicine and cognitive therapy (counseling). As always, your doctor is the best person to weigh out the pros and cons of any medication prescribed. That said, there is no sound theological reason to avoid medical treatment or counseling. If you feel more comfortable with a Christian counselor, that is fine, just make sure that the person is clinically certified and takes your insurance plan. Many people of faith fear secular counselors will sway their faith, but in my experience, such fears are unfounded with any licensed, certified counselor. It would be unethical for a professional to disrespect your faith. I have never seen it happen, but if it did, you can always change providers.

[x] This is not a replacement for treatment. This is for low-level anxiety or in addition to treatment.