What Causes Anxiety and What Actually Helps: From A Christian Counselor's View

Have you ever told yourself to stop worrying? How did that work out for you?

Probably not very well.

If we could simply tell our brains, "Okay, that's enough worrying for today," anxiety would be a whole lot easier to deal with!

And if you are a Christian struggling with anxiety, there can be another layer added to it. You may know the verses about worry. You may pray. You may genuinely trust God. And yet your brain is still going 100 miles an hour imagining everything that could go wrong.

Then comes the guilt.

Why am I still anxious?

Do I not trust God enough?

Am I doing something wrong spiritually?

I want us to look at anxiety a little differently.

After many years of sitting with people in counseling, I have learned that anxiety rarely has one neat little cause. We are complicated people! We have a body, brain, history, family, relationships and spirit. All of those things can affect how we feel.

And anxiety is incredibly common.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 19.1% of American adults experience an anxiety disorder in a given year, and approximately 31.1% will experience one sometime during their lives.

That's almost one out of every three people over a lifetime.

So, dear friend, you are certainly not the only person whose brain has decided to hold a 2 a.m. meeting about everything that could possibly go wrong.

But instead of only asking, "How do I make my anxiety stop?" I think there is another question worth asking.

Where is this anxiety coming from?

Let's look at some possibilities.

Did You Grow Up Around Anxiety?

Think back for a minute. Was one of your parents anxious?

Were you constantly reminded to be careful? Did someone in your family regularly anticipate what could go wrong?

Maybe you heard:

"Don't do that. You'll get hurt."

"Call me the second you get there."

"What if something happens?"

"Are you sure that's safe?"

There is certainly nothing wrong with a parent wanting to protect their child. But children are little sponges.

If the message you repeatedly received was the world is dangerous, your brain may have learned to stay on guard.

Research actually supports this connection. Studies have found an association between parental anxiety and emotional difficulties in children, although genetics, environment and other factors are intertwined.

You may have learned anxiety before you were old enough to even know what anxiety was.

That doesn't mean we blame Mom or Dad.

They may have learned it somewhere too. And that brings us to another interesting piece.

Can Anxiety Run in Families?

Yes.

Research suggests that genetics contribute to anxiety disorders. Studies generally estimate the heritable component of anxiety disorders somewhere around 30–50%, although estimates differ depending on the type of anxiety and the population being studied.

But please don't read that and think, Well, great. My mother worried about everything, my grandmother worried about everything, so I'm doomed.

Nope.

Genetic vulnerability is not the same thing as destiny. Families also pass down ways of responding to life.

We learn how our families handle conflict. We learn what they fear. We learn whether emotions are safe. We learn how they respond when something unexpected happens.

Sometimes we are carrying patterns that started long before we realized they were patterns.

From a Christian perspective, some people also choose to explore generational spiritual patterns through prayer. This is different from genetic inheritance and shouldn't be presented as the same thing.

If you believe there may be a spiritual generational component to what you are experiencing, I recommend working through this with a well-trained Christian counselor or ministry practitioner.

This isn't something I would encourage someone to dive deeply into alone after watching a few videos online.

Wisdom matters here.

Did Someone Do You Wrong?

Of course they did. People hurt people sometimes on purpose and sometimes without knowing. Regardless the intention, forgiveness is essential.

I'm not talking just a blanket forgiveness, but forgiving for every infraction. For instance, my mom was critical of my every move. I had forgiven her for doing that to me, but that didn't move the needle for me that much.

I met a forgiveness coach and decided to give it a try. We asked the Holy Spirit to show me everything I needed to forgive my mom (and others) for, and once I did, I felt so much lighter. None of her criticalness feels attached to me anymore.

There are great Christian forgiveness books out there and a ministry that I like that teaches this. You can even work with your own forgiveness coach! Here is the ministry info if you are interested. Even better, work with a forgiveness coach. It is well worth it.

And Then There's Your Gut!

This is one of the areas of research I find fascinating.

Your brain and your digestive system are constantly communicating with each other through what researchers call the gut-brain axis.

Those trillions of little microorganisms living in your digestive system aren't just hanging out waiting for lunch.

Researchers are studying how the gut microbiome interacts with the brain, nervous system, immune system and even our emotions.

One meta-analysis looked at 29 randomized controlled trials involving more than 2,000 people and found that probiotics and synbiotics were associated with a small reduction in anxiety scores. Pretty interesting!

But don't run to the store and buy the first probiotic bottle you see.

We don't have enough research yet to say there is one particular "anxiety probiotic." Different probiotic strains do different things, and researchers are still trying to figure out which strains, doses and combinations may be helpful. One company I have my eye on is called Bened. You can read abou them here.

If you have significant gut issues along with anxiety, however, I think it is worth talking with a qualified healthcare professional who understands the gut-brain connection.

Your body and brain are not separate little compartments. They talk to each other all day long.

What About Your Thoughts?

There is a reason the bible tells us to take every thought captive. God knows how our human thoughts work.

We don't always realize how quickly a thought becomes a story.

Your friend doesn't text you back.

(you think) She's upset with me.

Then:

I wonder what I did.

Then:

I shouldn't have said that thing yesterday.

And suddenly your brain has written an entire novel and your friend was just taking a nap. Sound familiar?

Dependng on the thought life we have, we could have an open door to the enemy. If we are thinking about everything going wrong on a continual basis, that can draw the enemy near to "feed" off your anxiety and make it worse.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times while working with someone's thought life, we get to the root of it, boot out the root (or heal it depending on how it started), cast off the enemy spirit "feeding on it" and replace it with God's truth, is that person set FREE.

The weight of the false belief not only is tangible, but peace ushers in.

When running worry or fearful thoughts all the time, that invites the enemy to make a stronghold (empowers it with spiritual handcuffs to itself) over those and makes it so much worse.

We will look at how to combat that in a different post.

What Can Help?

This is where I tend to look at the whole person. If anxiety has several roots, why would we expect one solution to fix all of them?

Exercise

Let's start with something very unexciting but surprisingly powerful.

Move your body. I know. You wanted something more interesting!

But research supports physical activity as a helpful complementary intervention for anxiety.

That doesn't necessarily mean spending an hour at the gym every day.

Walk.

Swim.

Lift weights.

Dance around your kitchen.

Find something you will actually keep doing.

Your nervous system benefits from movement.

L-Theanine / B Complex / Omega 3 Fatty Acids / Magnesium / Ashwagandha

Supplements can be helpful and supportive and worth looking into. These supplements are commonly suggested by holistic practioners for anxiety.

Natural doesn't automatically mean harmless either. Supplements can interact with medications and health conditions. Talk to your doctor before starting any new supplement.

Probiotics

As we talked about earlier, this is another interesting area. Certain probiotic strains are being studied for their possible influence on anxiety and stress through the gut-brain connection.

The early research is promising enough that I am watching it, but we don't have enough evidence to recommend one universal probiotic for anxiety.

If you explore probiotics, look at the actual strain, not simply the biggest number written across the front of the bottle. Here is that company I told you about earlier.

Bach Flower Remedies

I have also used and explored complementary approaches such as Bach flower remedies and Freedom Flowers. I am an affiliate for Freedom Flowers if you want to learn more here.

Some people find them helpful as part of their emotional wellness routine. I peronally use these for various emotional ailments depending on the day/season.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy is another complementary option some people choose to explore. It is similar to the flower remedies we just discussed.

Again, research on homeopathy for anxiety is limited and inconsistent, so I wouldn't present it as an evidence-based treatment for an anxiety disorder.

However, a personal anecdote is warranted here. Our daughter had a huge fear of bugs when she was little. Our doc gave her a homeopathic remedy and it cut down the severeity OVERNIGHT by 75%.

Another person I know was stuggling with suicidal ideation. She took a homeopathic remedy and over the following two weeks, the depression lifted and after 12 weeks she didn't need it anymore and has been sympom free for 4 years now.

If this is something you are interested in, please work with a qualified practitioner.

CBT

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy teaches us to slow our thoughts down and look at what we are thinking.

The APA identifies CBT as a well-studied psychotherapy commonly used in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.

I also think this fits beautifully with what Scripture teaches us about renewing our minds.

Romans 12:2 tells us: "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." You don't have to believe everything you think. That is worth saying again.

You don't have to believe everything you think.

Instead, learn to stop and ask:

Is this true?

What evidence do I actually have?

Am I predicting the future?

Is this fear talking?

What does God say is true?

That little pause can become powerful.

Inner Healing and Deliverance

"For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

5We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete (2 Corinthian 10:3-6)

This passage sets the stage for handling spiritual warfare. Work with a seasoned practioner that knows how to deal with spiritural issues (I do, in case you were interested).

Can I Take Medication if I Am A Christian?

Absolutely. Just as you would take meds for high blood pressure. If your anxiety feels to hard to manage after you explored the things we discussed in this article, talk to your doctor about meds. Meds do not disocunt your faith in God.

There is this new cheek swap DNA test you can take that will show you what meds will work best with your genes. If I were to needs meds, I would do this first. Here is some info on it.

Here is a popular test.

What About the Spiritual Roots?

I don't think we should ignore this piece as I feel it is a HUGE piece of the puzzle.

We are spiritual beings. There may be fear, unforgiveness, beliefs about God, old wounds, shame or generational patterns that need to be explored.

Inner Healing Prayer should be the start of the anxiety healing process. But I don't believe prayer and good mental healthcare need to compete with one another.

You can pray and use CBT (you will actually need to learn new tools so you don't fall back into the same thinking patterns. CBT can help with that).

You can read Scripture and exercise.

You can work on your gut health and explore childhood wounds.

You can ask God to reveal spiritual roots and talk with your doctor.

Sometimes we Christians make healing an either/or situation when perhaps it needs to be both/and.

God created the brain.

He created the body.

He created our emotions.

Why wouldn't we care for all of them?

Maybe We Need a Different Question

Instead of constantly asking: "How do I stop feeling anxious?" perhaps start asking:

"What is underneath my anxiety?"

Maybe your body has been on high alert for 30 years.

Maybe you learned fear from someone you loved.

Maybe your thoughts automatically jump to the worst possible conclusion.

Maybe there are physical factors worth investigating.

Maybe there are old emotional wounds that haven't healed.

Maybe there is a spiritual component you want to explore.

Or maybe it is several of these things mixed together.

That's okay. Healing doesn't have to happen all at once.

Dear friend, God isn't standing over you frustrated because you haven't figured out how to stop worrying yet.

Invite Him into the process. And then begin looking at what your anxiety may be telling you.

There may be more underneath it than you realized.

Three Questions You May Still Have

1. Does having anxiety as a Christian mean I don't trust God?

No. Anxiety can have biological, genetic, environmental, psychological, and/or spiritual components. You can genuinely trust God and still experience anxiety. Instead of turning anxiety into another reason to judge yourself, bring God into what you are experiencing and begin exploring what may be underneath it.

2. If anxiety runs in my family, can I actually change it?

Absolutely. Having a genetic vulnerability doesn't mean you are destined to live with uncontrolled anxiety. You can also identify learned family patterns, change thought patterns, care for your nervous system and work through emotional and spiritual issues that may be contributing.

You don't have to continue everything your family handed you.

3. Where should I start if I feel overwhelmed by all of this?

Pick one thing.

Maybe you start noticing your anxious thoughts this week. Maybe you begin walking for 20 minutes. Maybe you make an appointment with a counselor or physician. Maybe you start asking God, "Show me what is underneath this fear."

You don't need to fix everything today. Start somewhere.

Cheering you on!

This article is for educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose or treat a mental-health condition. Persistent, severe or worsening anxiety should be discussed with an appropriate healthcare or mental-health professional. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before beginning supplements or complementary treatments.