By Mitch Rhodes

In recent years, there has been a growth in the number of people reporting experiences of anxiety or developing anxiety disorders. This is affecting secular culture as well as Christian community. It is essential that we prepare ourselves with the tools to help others as they struggle with anxiety.

We need to try to understand anxiety. When you speak with someone who is anxious, they may share that they are feeling anxious but that can mean any variety of things. Anxiety carries with it a sense of preoccupation combined with fear. In many ways, it is normal to feel fearful about certain things. Anxiety goes beyond the normal experience of fear into an obsession or preoccupation. For that reason, many people who are anxious struggle to think about anything besides the object of their fear.

Raymond Pettibon depicts anxiety as a spiral in his art. Lewis Carroll depicts Alice going down the rabbit hole until the moment she meets the Cheshire cat who tells her “We’re all mad down here.” The author John Green, brings up the idea of an infinite regression about anxiety. All three have to do with an intense focus on one thing. This rings true to many people’s experience with anxiety.

The Bible uses the word “Merimnao” for anxiety. It carries with it a sense of being preoccupied, focused on, fearful of something. It should be concluded, that anxiety has a lot to do with our focus.