Part 1 Anxiety: Worry Versus Anxiety

The Next Stage…

I’m really excited about this next stage of this blog. We’re going to look at different mental illnesses and talk about not only the physiological components of each condition, but also what do people go through and what scripture shows. For those of you who don’t have the same religious beliefs, that’s okay. There are so many things you can get out of these topics.

Anxiety Versus Worry

So let’s start by talking about the general topic of worry. Often we think of anxiety as worry but really they are two different things.  Worry is one aspect of anxiety and everyone often will worry about their kids when they’re not home on time, what to cook for dinner, or what will happen in a job interview tomorrow. It’s not that that those things are not important because they are. I like the definition of worry from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. “to feel or show fear and concern because you think that something bad has happened or could happen.”  This type of worry disturbs our peace of mind and shows our lack of trust in God’s ability to care for us. There are various verse Christians refer to related to worry:

• “Can any one of you by worry add a single to your life?” Matthew 6:27 NIV
• “So do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?'” Matthew 6:31 NIV
• “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34 NIV
• “Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4; 6-7 NIV

Right now in this pandemic there is a lot of worry going on. We don’t know what will happen. Everything feels uncertain. One of the problems is this worry is nothing we can control. We worry about things that most likely will not happen to us. Even if it does, worry and fretting is not trusting in God to take care of us. It’s okay to feel this worry and when we do (because we’re human), God understands and we can take it to Him and tell him about it, “and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” So simple right? The hard part is to get out of our own head and remember to talk to God about it.

1. What is the antidote for worry? It is HOPE. We have hope in God and His plan for us.  This hope is not wishful thinking, but rather hope that is biblical and is based on the unfailing attributes of God – including faithfulness, mercy, grace, love, justice, being all knowing, all powerful, and present with us at all times in all places. These are only a few of the attributes we have hope in. One of my favorite verses is Joshua 21:45, “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” What human being do you  know that you can say that about in your life?

Anxiety

Let’s look at anxiety and see how it differs from worry.  There are two parts of our nervous system. They are the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.  The central nervous system makes up the brain and your spinal cord.  The peripheral nervous system is the nerves in the rest of your body.  The peripheral system contains what is called the somatic and the autonomic nervous systems.  I won’t go into the somatic nervous system right now, but let’s talk about the autonomic nervous system. This is responsible for all of the bodily functions that are automatic.  For example, you don’t have to tell your heart to beat, the autonomic nervous system takes care of that for you.  The autonomic nervous system is further divided into the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous systems.

The parasympathetic nervous system is fondly referred to as the “rest and digest” system.  This is happening most of your life and is your body’s normal state. Your pupils are appropriately constricted based on the amount of light around you, your heart rate stays an easy normal 60 to 80 beats per minute, your airway is relaxed and you’re breathing normally, the intestines and glands are functioning to digest your food, and your bladder sphincter is relaxed so that you can urinate to rid your body of waste.

Here is a 2 minute video that also explains it well if you would like to watch it.

The HPA Axis

The hypothalamus is a small organ in the bottom part of the brain. It is sits right over the top of the pituitary gland. When you have a stressful event, one of many functions of the hypothalamus is release corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) which tells the pituitary gland to release a hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) to the adrenal glands.  The adrenal glands are small organs that sit right on top of your kidneys.  These produce (you guessed it) adrenaline which we have talked about before when we talked about norepinephrine. (Click here to review.)

When the adrenal glands become activated, the “rest and digest” parasympathetic shuts off and your sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear. The sympathetic nervous system is often referred to as “fight, flight, or freeze.” When your sympathetic nervous system is activated, your pupils go from being constricted to dilating so that you can see thing clearer. Your heart starts beating harder in order to get blood to the necessary organs such as your muscles. Your liver releases more sugar to give you energy to use your muscles. Your lungs allow more oxygen to go through them. You can look at the picture to see all that occurs.

So someone with chronic anxiety has their sympathetic nervous system activated frequently. This may be due to chronic stress, a physical problem, or genetics. Sometimes we just don’t know what it is caused from.

Here is a really good simple video that tells you about the HPA axis.

*** Please leave your comments and tell me what you think about this post.  The only rule is to always be kind even when you disagree. ***

Next post…..

So next time were going to talk about different types of anxiety and how they are diagnosed.

Also, in the near future, I’m hoping to have a special post with someone who experiences anxiety.

References:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worry

The Bible, NIV

https://www.toddbishop.tv/post/the-antidote-to-the-virus-of-worry?gclid=Cj0KCQjwweyFBhDvARIsAA67M73HTU-VNJoMmpsdx7mgQdBI8JmRLXbaxjAFMGo2KgAedKmavBNW8EQaAmfHEALw_wcB