What is anxiety?

Manageable anxiety should be distinguished from mental illness. For example, everyone worries about life, stress, health, finances, children, and so on. The Bible speaks to these occasions many different times (e.g. Phil.4:6). This is not a sign of mental illness. It becomes a serious mental illness when anxiety becomes debilitating.

Think of a spectrum. On one end is nervousness and concern, but it’s manageable. On the other extreme is outright fear and a panic attack. As anxiety moves along the spectrum it becomes more difficult to manage and interferes with our ability to perform daily tasks.

From a clinical perspective, the person who continues in this overwhelmed state for more than six months might be diagnosed with anxiety disorder. There are many types of anxiety disorders. One of the most common is called generalized anxiety disorder. Here are the criteria:

• Excessive anxiety and worry occurring most days of the week for at least six months that is accompanied by at least three of the following symptoms:

• Restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge

• Being easily fatigued

• Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank

• Irritability

• Muscle tension

• Sleep problems (difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or restless sleep)