Anxiety and Depression – Class Audio

Today I was blessed to be able to lead a class at my church discussing the topic of anxiety and depression from a Christian worldview. If you have read my previous blog posts on these topics (found here: anxiety part 1, anxiety part 2, depression), then you will have a good idea of the nature of our discussion. Below you will find a link to the audio of the class.

I want to make a couple of comments regarding the content of the class. First, I mentioned that medication could be used to relieve some of the painful physical symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, I want to point out that pain and suffering is not always bad and our goal should not always be to get rid of pain. Pain is often a sign that something is wrong and fixing the root cause should be the primary goal – not relieving the symptoms. Additionally, we often grown in character through trails and suffering; however, our culture is very pain-averse. But character is forged in the fires suffering, so don’t always begrudge its place in your life.

Second, I want to reemphasize a comment made in the class. It was mentioned that the root of anxiety is misplaced identity. As Christians, we do not truly believe who we are in Christ and what our true purpose is in life. This can lead to anxiety about our perceived understanding of our circumstances – a perception that is false. Complete trust in God’s promises provide a sure foundation for maximal mental health in this life, despite the frailties of our brain.

Jordan