In the United States alone, some 40 million adults suffer from an anxiety disorder. Given our current cultural climate, that number is only expected to rise, reaching greater epidemic proportions. What is the cause of this meteoric rise? Many Christians would point to the coincidence of the rise of a Godless culture which is certainly a contributing factor. Until you realize that Christians also suffer from it at alarming rates. The Christians in the former group would say that the latter simply lack faith. But is that necessarily true?
The Metaphysics of Anxiety
It is helpful to first develop a “metaphysics” of anxiety which will enable us to better understand it. Fear is one of the five passions of the irascible appetite. These passions arise because of some desired good being difficult to obtain or some evil difficult to avoid. Specifically, fear is a forward-looking passion that arises with the awareness of an impending evil that cannot be avoided. Because it is future-directed, it is aroused directly by the imagination and memory. The imagination and memory make some evil present to the person and the passion of fear is stimulated. One person may experience fear when going on a roller coaster because they imagine that it will crash. Another person may experience fear because their memory reminds them of the time when one did crash. The person then must engage their reason to determine whether the threat is real. Some may choose not to ride because there is a strong actual likelihood it might crash, or they might not ride because the feeling of fear it is too strong, mitigating any pleasure they might get from the ride.
The most common type of fear is anxiety which is aroused because evil is often unforeseen, leaving a person wondering whether he will be harmed or not. Being future-directed, the imagination must place before the person fearful images (called phantasms in Thomistic language). There is a sort of feedback mechanism in which the imagination supplies an image, the body experiences fear, the imagination supplies another image because there is a sense of danger enforced by the body. The fear then increases. The only way to stop this loop is to change the phantasm in the imagination by an act of the will, choosing to turn the mind towards something else. This is why distraction is often used to get the mind “off of it.” This is also why people will turn to drugs and alcohol to either dull the imagination or overwhelm the passion with pleasure. Either way once the image of the future evil is removed, the anxiety ceases.
Although this seems like common sense, it should be mentioned that oftentimes a person who has anxiety bore no moral responsibility for the onset of their condition. Those of certain temperaments, choleric especially, feel the passion of fear more acutely and so may be prone to anxiety disorders. The environment can also be a contributing factor. You could multiply the examples, but suppose a child was repeatedly abused at a young age. They begin to live in constant fear awaiting the next time the abuse will take place. They become habituated to experiencing anxiety so that even after the actual threat is removed they are still awaiting some other future evil, one that they cannot even specifically name. This loop may govern the rest of their lives unless they can cultivate some sense of security in their lives.
Faith and Anxiety
An expert in anthropology, it is this feedback loop that Our Lord has in mind when He tells us “do not be anxious about your life” (Mt 6:25). He provides a series of images (“look”) to change the phantasm and invites us to engage our reason to combat the anxiety. Our reasoning, illumined by faith, is that even though there is evil all around, “your heavenly Father knows what you need” (c.f. Mt 6:33). Our Lord, understanding well our psychology, is teaching us that when the fear of the future arises we should turn to the present moment and call to mind that, as the word suggests, God’s Providence will provide all that we need (Mt 6:34).
Faith then is the antidote to anxiety and as faith diminishes anxiety will increase. The truth is that we, using our own strength, are powerless in the face of many evils. When we know that “all things work for good to them who love God” (Romans 8:28), it can help us to conquer anxiety. But, and this is important, not all anxiety is caused by a lack of faith. This is a mistake many Christians make, either chastising themselves for not being able to overcome their anxiety or chastising other Christians because they don’t have “enough faith.”
How to Alleviate the Suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder
As alluded to in the introduction there are many people who suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder. As the name implies, it is a disorder in the imagination-irascible passion loop. A person may have become so habituated to experiencing anxiety that they lack the volitional control to stop it. That is, as St. Thomas suggests, the passion is experienced so powerfully that they are unable to engage their reason (ST I-II, q.77, art.2). This is the “law of sin” that St. Paul reminds us that battles against the “law of the mind” and has the power to overcome the mind (c.f. Romans 7:23). This is why anti-anxiety medication, even if it is often over-prescribed, is a valid remedy in that it helps to dampen the strength of the passion and enable the person to re-engage their reason.
Obviously, a person without faith lacks the intellectual data to truly combat the images, especially when this is combined with a lack of the ability to control their imagination. But the point is that even the person with faith may experience the anxiety so deeply that they find it impossible to make an act of faith. They may have the strongest faith in the world, but the anxiety is so flooding their system that their reason and will is unable to control it at times. They remain trapped in the imagination-anxiety loop. Add to this the guilt, likely reinforced by the demonic bully, and they end up sliding towards despair.
With the instances of this disorder on the rise, it is important for us to understand these mechanisms, especially those who are close to sufferers of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Telling them “you just have to trust” or “just pray about it” is not the most helpful. This is their cross and it is not necessarily a self-inflicted one. The weight of this cross is of course lightened by the weight of the Good News that God is sanctifying them and purifying their faith through it, but it is also lightened by the Simon of Cyrene’s that cross their path. Loneliness is a great cause of anxiety and just the awareness that someone else “gets it” and they are not completely crazy can be a means of lessening that anxiety. Being willing to act as reason for them and letting them bounce their anxieties off of you to help talk them down can also help them regain gain control. This can be a heavy burden, but like Simon you too will be sanctified by it.
The “bodiliness” of Catholicism also offers unique sources of healing. Confession, the place where guilt goes to die, is perhaps the most important ingredient. The medicinal effects of the Eucharist are felt not only in the soul, but through the “the renewal of your mind” we are enable us to regain control of our passions. Likewise, the Rosary, not only because it invites the passionate Our Lady of Sorrows to pray with us, but also because it engages the entire person like no other prayer, is also a key ingredient to healing.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself” (Mt 6:34) Our Lord told us. Many people experience tomorrow today and are crippled by anxiety. By developing an understanding of the metaphysics of anxiety, we can better help them live for today.