The Antidote for Anxiety

By Dale M. Sides

Recently I picked up the February 24, 2003 issue of Newsweek magazine and read an article on anxiety through which the Holy Spirit spoke to me. Isn't it interesting that the children of the world are wiser than the children of light in discerning the trends of people? They must have a higher motive for reward that causes them to think.

Anxiety is raping our society. Want a good stock tip? Invest in pharmaceutical companies that are selling sedatives and mind altering drugs. From now through the time of Jesus' return to the earth, times are going to get worse and worse and the world will be selling more and more drugs. Tough times are promised and prophesied, so we probably will not be able to reverse the trend. But do we Christians have to deal with anxiety the same way as unbelievers? No!¹

When I was inspired to study this, I began in the Bible and continued on into the secular realm. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edtition says that anxiety is "a state of uneasiness as about future uncertainties; a state of intense apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation, often to a degree that the normal physical and psychological functioning of the affected individual is disrupted." One of the things I discovered is that fear and anxiety are quite different, and knowing the difference between the two will help to show the treatment of them.

Fear is a "clear and present danger." It is caused by a real event that threatens injury, more physical than emotional. Anxiety, on the other hand, is apprehension of a future event (although it can be sparked from a memory of a past event). It is a "clear and future danger" and threatens injury, more emotional than physical. So in one sense, if anxiety could be called fear, it would be called fear of the future. Regardless of what we call anxiety, it is a perception and is not real in the sense that the danger actually exists; it is the dread or possibility of lurking danger.

According to medical research, fear is registered in the portion of the brain called the amygdala.² It erupts when the physical senses receive signals of a danger presently occurring. The thoughts are processed through the prefrontal cortex, where the will of man resides. In the prefrontal cortex, the danger is assessed either as being actual or just an alarm. For example, if your little brother jumps out from behind the door in a dark room, the prefrontal cortex processes the information and causes your alarm system to back down and therefore keeps you from strangling him. Response to fear is usually either fight or flight.

If the prefrontal cortex discerns that the situation is real and that you need to react, the impulse travels through an organ within the brain called the stria terminalis (a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of nerves) to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus secretes hormones into the blood stream and causes you to physically react—by releasing adreneline, tensing up, or by increasing your pulse. Fear is real.

Anxiety, on the other hand, emerges from the stria terminalis. In other words, the origin of anxiety does not come from signals of the physical senses giving an alarm of present danger, but from memories of past events already stored in the brain. If the perceived danger reaches the hypothalamus, the body will react just the same as if a terrifying horror had actually happened to you. Anxiety is a product of the imagination.

Understanding how anxiety occurs will reveal the solution or antidote for it. This is what happens: When a situation occurs that causes someone to associate it with a related experience in the past, the body will respond the same way it did during the first incident. It does not even have to be the same category of experience, just something that could spark the memory. The hormones that are released then cause panic, increased respiration, adrenaline flow, headache, acid indigestion, etc. The prefrontal cortex is bypassed in assessing the situation because the triggered memory has already been recorded as a dire emergency. When the anxiety reaches the hypothalamus, the body will respond accordingly.

Now that we understand the difference between fear and anxiety, we can determine the solution to each of these culprits. Since fear is an actual event, action needs to be taken to quell the threat. But anxiety, since it is not a response to a present threat but a reminder of a past one, can only be remedied by an anchor of hope that will keep the mind from slipping when the perceived threat comes. In other words, fear can be remedied by action but anxiety can only be remedied by strong hope. Psalm 119:114 says, "Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word." The antidote for anxiety is to memorize Scripture to prevent the apprehension from reaching the place where the body reacts.

When anxiety begins to run in someone's brain, a plethora of Scripture needs to flood the mind before the chemicals get a chance to be secreted. We need more Bible and less drugs. We need a greater focus on the truth that will make us free, rather than trying to focus on circumstances that will hinder us (John 8:32). We need more memorized Bible verses and less TV and movies. We need greater discipline of the mind than devotion to recreation.

People have wondered why anxiety is at an all-time high. There are two main reasons: (1) Perilous times are upon us and are getting worse day by day. (2) Undisciplined minds are at an all-time high also. We may not be able to stop trying times from coming, but we can be prepared for them when they come. Yes, we need to put back some supplies and stock up on food and water, but how about also building a supply of Bible verses?

We are living in a time of wars and rumors of wars. Pestilences, earthquakes and famines are on the exponential rise. In the last days, perilous times will come (2 Timothy 3:1). Instead of taking more and more pills, take the Gospill. Instead of having just food stored in the pantry, have some Bible stored in your brain. Memorize Scripture. Meet uncertainty with the strong hope of the Word of God stored in your mind.

Endnotes

1. Dale M. Sides, "Antidote for Anxiety," Liberating Partners audiocassette tape, LP050.

2. Geoffrey Cowley, "Our Bodies, Our Fears," Newsweek magazine, February 24, 2003, 43-49.