THE MEDICINE OF TRANQUILITY
Philippians 4:6-7
Ted Schroder, June 29, 2013
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything 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)
Scott Stossel, editor of The Atlantic, has written a searingly honest book entitled, My Age of
Anxiety: Fear, hope, dread, and the search for peace of mind. In it he reveals his own agonized
search for relief from anxiety disorders throughout his life and reviews all the theories of the
source of anxiety and the treatments for it. He questions whether it is a medical illness, or a
philosophical problem, or a psychological problem, or a spiritual condition or a cultural
condition. He decides that anxiety is at once a function of biology and philosophy, body and
mind, instinct and reason, personality and culture. It is produced by nature and nurture.
Following Kierkegaard he suggests that his anxiety might be just a normal human
emotional response to life rather than an illness to be diagnosed and treated. Yet Stossel has
endured a lifetime of debilitating panic attacks that are truly terrifying.
He describes anxiety as apprehension about future suffering – the fearful anticipation of
an unbearable catastrophe one is hopeless to prevent. At the root of all clinical anxiety is some
kind of existential crisis about growing old, death, the loss of loved ones, the fear of failure and
personal humiliation, the struggle for meaning and purpose, and the need for emotional security.
He gives us a history of treatment: psychological counseling and the development of antianxiety drugs. He has been taking all the different kinds of drugs for twenty years and believes
that anxiety has a biological basis yet he admits that the original underpinnings of biological
psychiatry has been unraveling. He quotes studies that indicate that new evidence does not
support any of the biochemical theories of mental illness, and that psychiatric drugs can do more
harm than good. Only about a third of patients get better on antidepressants.
Anxiety may be the truest route to self-discovery. Medicating away that anxiety instead
of listening to what it’s trying to tell us – listening to Prozac instead of listening to our anxiety –
might not be what’s called for if we want to become our best selves. Anxiety may be a signal that
something needs to change – that we need to change our lives. Medication risks blocking that
signal. He cites the novels of Walker Percy who came to distrust the reductionist worldview that
claimed science as the answer to all human problems. Percy came to believe that the high rates of
depression and suicide in modern society were owed in part to the dependence on scientific
solutions. By focusing on the biological, he said, psychiatry becomes unable to account for guilt,
self-consciousness, sadness, shame, anxiety – these were important signals from the world and
from our souls. Medicating these signals away as symptoms of organic disease risks alienating us
further from ourselves (cf. Walker Percy, The Thanatos Syndrome).
Stossel agrees with Walker Percy and Kierkegaard yet he still is dependent on taking
multiple doses of these drugs and alcohol as well. He relies on Klonopin, Xanax and scotch and
admits that this is not healthy. He is aware that there is a history of anxiety disorders in his
family and explores his genetic inheritance. Yet he is not willing to become a victim to genetic
factors completely beyond his control. Neither is he going to blame his mother for her over-
protection or his father for his alcoholism. The challenge is to manage his anxiety so that it
becomes a source of strength.
Finally, he cites the work of Denis Charney in studying the resilience of Vietnam POW’s.
He developed ten critical psychological elements and characteristics of resilience: optimism,
altruism, having a moral compass or set of beliefs that cannot be shattered, faith and spirituality,
humor, having a role model, social supports, facing fear (or leaving one’s comfort zone) having a
mission or meaning in life, and practice in meeting and overcoming challenges.
Stossel does not profess any Christian faith. He admits that he is agnostic as far as God is
concerned. His last case study in the book is that of Dr. Samuel Johnson who suffered from
depressive anxiety, yet was highly productive and a man of deep faith in Christ and prayer.
Johnson realized that his infirmity was part of his inheritance of original sin. He sought to
manage it by faith in God, a life of prayer and self-discipline, confession of his sins, and trusting
in the salvation of Christ on the Cross. Anxiety is part of our sinfulness that can only be managed
by an awareness of our dependence on God our Father, our forgiveness through God the Son,
and our empowering by God the Holy Spirit. All the existential questions and descriptions of
anxiety Stossel lists find their resolution in the medicine of the soul that is the Gospel of Jesus.
Our future need not be feared but lived into with hope and joy because of what Christ has done
for us.
Anxiety and prayer are two great opposing forces in Christian experience. Giving thanks
for God’s blessings in your life, is an antidote to worry. The more we are aware of our blessings
and the more we can focus on them and give thanks for them, the more we will prevent anxiety
gripping us.
The peace of God, is not merely a psychological state of mind, but an inner tranquility
based on peace with God, that peaceful state of those who are in a right relationship with God
through Christ (Romans 5:1). Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Do not
let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27) This tranquility, which is the
opposite of anxiety, comes when you commit all your cares to God in prayer and refuse to worry
about them knowing that your future is in God’s hands. This peace transcends all understanding
for the full dimensions of God’s love and care are beyond human comprehension. This peace of
Christ can stand sentry to guard our hearts and minds against the assaults of the enemy who
seeks to sow panic amongst us. Without that peace we are vulnerable to being injured by the
artillery of fears and the roadside bombs (IED’s) that sow terror in our hearts and minds.
We do not have to be apprehensive about future suffering, about growing old, death, the
loss of loved ones, and the fear of failure. “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid.” “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we can say with confidence, “The
Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid, What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5,6)
Our anxieties, which stem from our fear of being nothing, of having no meaning and
purpose, of our distancing ourselves from God, can drive us back to the Lord. Our anxiety may
be a signal that something needs to change – that we need to change our lives.
“God uses chronic pain and weakness, along with other afflictions, as his chisel for
sculpting our lives. Felt weakness deepens dependence on Christ for strength each day. The
weaker we feel the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually,
even when our bodies waste away.” (Jim Packer)
We must learn again our complete dependence on our Creator and Savior. We must learn
God’s grace is sufficient for us, that our power is made perfect in weakness. We should boast
about our anxiety so that Christ’s power and peace may rest upon us. (2 Cor.12:9)