← Focus on the Family with Jim Daly
Focus on the Family with Jim Daly
Overcoming Anxiety: Finding Peace in a Hectic World (Part 2 of 2)
00:27:12
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- [00:05]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
I use 2 Timothy 1:7 as my foundation when I'm dealing with anxiety. It says, for the Lord did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love. And I like this, a sound mind.
- [00:20]
John Fuller
That's Dr. Gregory Jantz with insights on anxiety which impacts so many of us today, young and old. He's back to offer hope and healing on today's episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller.
- [00:34]
Jim Daly
John, we had a great discussion last time. If folks missed it, you can get it through the app for your phone and you can look at all the episodes of Focus on the Family, download it at the website, or you can look at it on YouTube, catch it again. So it's available in all those places. But I thought it was exceptionally helpful for those that have anxiety and for those who don't, but have loved ones who do suffer from anxiety. And it was so helpful to give people handles on how to begin to identify it and address those issues in their life. We talked about kind of the holistic approach where you have to exercise, get plenty of water and begin to work on those things that are causing you anxiety. And we're going to continue that discussion today with Dr. Gregory Jantz.
- [01:18]
John Fuller
Yeah. And Dr. Jantz is the founder of the Center A Place of Hope, which is located in Edmonds, Washington. It's a treatment center for anxiety and depression. He's a mental health expert. He's written a number of books, including one that really covers this topic so well, the Anxiety A Life Changing Approach to Overcoming Fear, Stress, Worry, Panic Attacks, OCD and more. And you can learn more about this terrific resource and our guest when you click the link in the show notes.
- [01:48]
Jim Daly
Dr. Jantz, welcome back to Focus.
- [01:50]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yes, today, more anxiety.
- [01:52]
Jim Daly
Yeah, no kidding. You know, I think what I wanted to kick off with on day two here is more of the spiritual context of what we're talking about. You know, this really gives great emphasis to the burden the Lord has carried for us. You know, when we think of how we were meant to be perfect and then how sin entered the world and how that expresses itself in so many different ways, we are not the perfect people we were created to be. That's the whole point of Jesus, redemption and us being able to confess our sin and have forgiveness in Christ, become Christian, et cetera. But it's kind of an interesting place to start when we talk about things in the mental health space that hold us back, and we seem to treat that differently than other things. I mean, disease, we weren't meant to have disease. Right. In the perfect garden. So when we look at it, in some ways spiritually, we need to understand that God has forgiven all and he takes the burden for us. And this is just part of this broken life.
- [02:55]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
It is part of the broken life. And sometimes we inadvertently are adding to anxiety, probably unintentionally.
- [03:04]
Jim Daly
How do we do that?
- [03:05]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Maybe by faulty beliefs. If I was only a good enough Christian, God would. Or I wouldn't suffer from this. And we start to rewrite our theology a little bit.
- [03:18]
Jim Daly
Wow, that's interesting.
- [03:19]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So what we believe is really important.
- [03:22]
Jim Daly
So when we say Jesus is sufficient, God is sufficient, we need to believe it.
- [03:26]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
We need to believe it. And we need to have a system in our life where we're renewing our mind. Okay. So if I'm six hours a day into social media, that's probably not renewing my mind.
- [03:37]
Jim Daly
Wow. Okay. Right.
- [03:40]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So have a system for renewing your mind, which simply means putting God's truth in. You gotta keep putting God's truth in. Is that the instant cure for anxiety? No, but it's building the foundation that will be.
- [03:53]
Jim Daly
Well, that's good. Now you take that holistic approach. I mentioned it in the setup. And I mentioned drinking water. I read that in the book. I thought that was amazing. But just speak to that holistic approach. What does it mean when it comes to diet, exercise?
- [04:07]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Absolutely.
- [04:08]
Jim Daly
Doing the other foundational things on top of the great foundation of Scripture and knowing the Lord.
- [04:13]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Right. Well, we're so used to just wanting to have the magic cure, the magic pill. You know, it's like, just give it to me, I'll take it, Everything will be fine. And that's really not. That's like a type A person, doesn't it? Right. And that's really not the way it works. Give me the simple, quick answer. You know, God could be taking anxiety in your life and taking us through a journey. We may be needing to learn some things. Okay. When my wife had cancer diagnosis, and there was anxiety and anxiety in our family, anxiety in me. Okay. There was a journey of faith and growth. I'm not the same person today that I was then. Okay. And things that used to cause maybe some anxiety are pretty mild now. Right, right.
- [05:03]
Jim Daly
In comparison.
- [05:04]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
In comparison.
- [05:05]
Jim Daly
Yeah.
- [05:05]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
It puts things in perspective. So as you look at anxiety in your life, look at every area of your life. Do I have a relationship, My relationships. Do I have some toxic relationships that really are creating a lot of anxiety? Do I have maybe a poor lifestyle of poor nutrition? And I have worked with people who have had Exceedingly poor nutrition. And we start to change a few things. And as we change a few things, they start to feel better. As you start to feel better, you start to receive information better. Remember, anxiety takes my ability to concentrate, and I can't concentrate. I can't focus. So I could be having a counseling session with you and working with you. But if you're so anxious you can't even remember a thing I'm saying, that's not going to help much. That's why anxiety has to be treated in the whole person. That's why we want to ask the Lord to come and guide our conversation, show us what needs to be addressed and give us the ears to hear.
- [06:09]
Jim Daly
Yeah, those are good thoughts. You share a story about a patient named Alan who experienced childhood trauma because of a swimming pool incident when he was a child. I kind of, you know, my heart went out to this story, but explain it for the listeners and viewers.
- [06:25]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
I think Alan was in the sixth grade. He was kind of afraid of water. They went on. It was a school event, actually, and of course, kids were teasing him, and he ended up in the deep end, and he had a lot of anxiety. Okay. Wasn't confident in any ability to swim. So he actually was pulled out of the pool by the lifeguards. They actually gave him cpr.
- [06:49]
Jim Daly
Yeah, he got in trouble.
- [06:50]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
He got in trouble. And he's in sixth grade. So that created. Can you imagine the fear that created for him that he carried his whole life? But that fear rippled into other areas of his life. It made him feel uncertain about himself. He didn't feel confident. So it wasn't just swimming or water. It affected his entire life. That's what anxiety does.
- [07:17]
Jim Daly
Right? That manifestation in different ways. How do we take an assessment to really think, are there things that happened to me that are the triggers that we're acting out today as adults that we haven't stopped to say? You know what? When I think back, maybe my fear of this started there.
- [07:34]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
And there's usually a starting point. There usually is. So we can keep it real simple. And I'm like you, Jim, though I'm in the mental health field. I don't like psychobabble. And there's a lot of things that I don't agree with that's in the mental health field. Okay. We've got to be very sound in our Christian principles as we approach this. So there are some things I would never suggest. All right. But one thing I would suggest is take out a piece of paper and say, 15 minutes, Lord God, show Me, anything that I need to be aware of, to address, maybe that happened long ago. Don't make a huge deal out of it. Just keep it easy and just write down for 15 minutes whatever comes to mind and just see what the Lord brings out for you.
- [08:20]
Jim Daly
And that's what you had Alan do actually, right? You had him list things, Just list what?
- [08:24]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yeah. And so I just want you to look at what were the events that shaped fear in your life.
- [08:30]
Jim Daly
You had another story about a woman and this one again is, boy, it's going to connect with so many women. But she was assaulted as a teenager and that was extremely difficult for her. What were some of the things that she put in place to protect her heart?
- [08:48]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So she was sexually assaulted in high school. And I'm just going to say this is more common than what one would realize. So I know we're speaking to some folks today that, yeah, something happened, could have been a rape, some form of sexual assault. And that changed something for you. It put fear in your life. It puts begin to change what God's design for sex and sexuality is. And that fear has been present and you're hypersensitive, you have hyper vigilance, you're easily startled about anything. So seeds of fear were planted. Now there's redemption and healing for that. But it had a real effect in your life.
- [09:34]
Jim Daly
You know, when someone hears that there's redemption, it may feel far away.
- [09:39]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
It may feel far away, like you're.
- [09:40]
Jim Daly
Looking down a tunnel and that seed of redemption is thousands of feet from you. And it would be hard to imagine I can make that journey. How does a person, I mean, there's no simple answer to this. I get it, but what is the hope of that journey? That you can actually get to the.
- [09:57]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
End of the throne? And I'm going to say there's hope for all anxiety and fear journeys. Okay, Remember, the Lord said he didn't give us a spirit of fear so we don't have to carry the fear. There'll be some normal anxieties. There's things that happen in life. We've been talking about a diagnosis. You get a diagnosis, the initial response is fear and anxiety. You just can't stay parked there. We cannot dwell in anxiety.
- [10:21]
Jim Daly
Don't be crippled by that because it.
- [10:22]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Will take us where we don't want to go. In other words, redemption could be healing. So my body has been accustomed to dealing with in a certain way. And so your body has to be retrained. Maybe that sounds funny, but you have immediate nervous system response to Something. Well, our body can be retrained. Maybe you've learned to always. Your what if is. You always go right to the worst possible thing every time. And maybe you're misjudging people. Maybe you look over there and you see that person and they go that. And you make judgments. So there needs to be a, if you will, a cleansing of maybe critical judgments. There needs to be a whole new place. And you need to see yourself as God sees you. Now, I don't mean that to sound super simple. Ultimately it is. And you can. I just want to say you can get there.
- [11:15]
Jim Daly
Yeah, that's good, Greg.
- [11:18]
John Fuller
Forgiveness is such a big part of this kind of a healing journey. I imagine it's very difficult. If the person that did something to you. Let's go back to the woman that was assaulted in high school. She may not have any clue where those people are or where that individual is. How can she seek forgiveness for someone she can't see or talk to? How can that happen?
- [11:43]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
And I have to tell you, this is an incredibly important piece to the healing. And we need to go. Forgiveness doesn't mean I need to see them or talk to them. But forgiveness is a decision I'm making because I no longer want to be poisoned by what happened to me. And my poison is resentment. My poison is. It's still affecting my relationships today. I want freedom from that. And so sometimes it's forgiving. Some people don't even know who or where the person was or is. Sometimes it's forgiving the event, it's forgiving what happened because I no longer am going to carry that into my present relationships. That's a powerful decision. And one of the things that begins to happen, you know, if you've crossed that threshold, if you start to have gratitude in your life, there is a newfound gratitude. When people start to get healed from anxiety, they start to have this gratefulness. It's really powerful. It's hard for anxiety and gratefulness to live together.
- [12:51]
Jim Daly
Wow, that's a statement.
- [12:53]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So I can be great in an odd way. I can be grateful for some of the painful journeys that I've come on because I'm a different person now and probably going to be influential to help others, which is powerful. But I see this in the lives of folks that come to us for help. There's a threshold they cross and they start to have gratitude for people in their life, and they start to want to be of service to others.
- [13:21]
Jim Daly
You explain in the book, anxiety is kind of like being in a concrete barred cell and that you need to create the jailbreak.
- [13:30]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yeah.
- [13:30]
Jim Daly
So describe what the jailbreak.
- [13:32]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
The jailbreak.
- [13:33]
Jim Daly
And people that have anxiety know exactly what you're talking about out of the book. That it feels like you're locked in.
- [13:39]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
You're locked in. And that's that spirit of fear that holds you back. When we talk about anxiety, there's a spiritual side and then there's the relationship side. There's the whole person side. So we want to look at it. So the breakout is also a decision. I'm not going to live this way anymore. I'm committed to working through whatever I have to to have healing. I'm not going to be bound by this. And there's a decision we make. And maybe at first it's because you're so locked into living with anxiety, it's almost normal. It's not a healthy normal, but you're used to it. And if you say to a person, no, you don't have to live that way, they're going to go, what? No, I don't get that. So we need to teach a new way to live. And I know that it can be done.
- [14:27]
Jim Daly
It can sound like, I want to make sure that you're differentiating for the listener who might be struggling with anxiety, that you can simply will yourself out of it. And people with anxiety, sometimes that's a no.
- [14:40]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Right. And remember, hope comes when there's a plan. So we're putting together a plan for that jailbreak. Okay, It's a plan.
- [14:49]
Jim Daly
What does it look like? The plane?
- [14:51]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
And that's where I'm going to. Okay. Is there that early childhood trauma? Is there chemical issues? Do I have a secret hidden addiction? What is going on in my life? Have I developed another form of anxiety is obsessive compulsive disorder? Have I developed some faulty beliefs around who God is or God's love for me? We start to believe things that are not true. Remember, anxiety is one of the ways that the enemy comes to what? Kill and destroy. We do that through fear. So we need a good plan of hope to get out of that.
- [15:28]
Jim Daly
Yeah. And it's so true. I have relationships that I know these people are struggling with anxiety.
- [15:36]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yes.
- [15:37]
Jim Daly
Can you look at it in again stages where some people will feel so incapacitated they might not be able to look for a job. They might not be able to think of the young people that went through Covid that graduated high school with two years of no contact or little contact, all at home learning. It really did impact that community. And those 20 somethings now are kind of struggling with how to get on track.
- [16:04]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Oh, they are. And this is a very real issue. And we're seeing anxiety levels drop down to our 12, 17 year olds. We're seeing kids who are struggling. Remember, for kids, a lot of times they're absorbing the fear that's around them.
- [16:18]
Jim Daly
Yeah.
- [16:19]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So we need to be aware of that.
- [16:20]
Jim Daly
And they absorbed a lot during that time.
- [16:22]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
They absorbed a lot. Yes.
- [16:24]
Jim Daly
And so it's helping them to climb out of that pit.
- [16:28]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Well, remember, one of the lies of anxiety is you don't have purpose or you don't have meaning. That's what anxiety tells you.
- [16:34]
Jim Daly
Yeah.
- [16:35]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Anxiety tells you you don't really matter. Remember, it's always the opposite. The truth is always the opposite.
- [16:40]
Jim Daly
Yeah, that's a good word.
- [16:42]
John Fuller
So, Greg, I'm thinking of the spouse who is married to someone who is just caught by anxiety and platitudes. I mean, let's just say I'm that person. Fortunately, Dina is not full of anxiety, but if she were, I wouldn't have anything to say to her. I wouldn't know what to do. How could I possibly help her besides saying, hey, let's listen to this Focus on the Family show. But what are some things I could do to just help my spouse start to see hope and see the truth?
- [17:14]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Okay, wonderful question. And remember, receiving it from a family member is always the most difficult. So I'm probably going to take her and we're going to go outside for a walk. We're going to create movement. Always create movement together. When you feel anxious, change your. If it's changing the room in your house, get up, let's go for a walk. You will also begin to change how you talk when you're walking. So movement changes. So that's just one simple thing. And I also would probably say, can I get you something to drink? And it would be water or hot tea or something because I'm going to give them a beverage. As they start to drink water is really interesting. When a person's anxious, start to have them drink water or some hot tea, it just helps. Well, it begins. So we're accessing different parts of the brain. We're changing the environment, we're moving. And that other person will feel some comfort, but they also will feel like, oh, you care about me. You're not just giving me quick answers. You care about me. You're with me. A person in fear needs you to be with them.
- [18:35]
Jim Daly
You have a great story about John that really caught your attention. What happened?
- [18:40]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So John ultimately came for Help for anxiety. John was successful, but he worked from home and he got in deep anxiety, deep depression. And John had been to a half a dozen counselors and doctors and nothing was working. John came to the center and he said this, he goes, you're my last hope. Yeah, that. Well, who wants to be anybody's last hope? Right, right. And so John was paralyzed by anxiety. Though he could set at his computer and work all day, he would not go out. He had social anxiety, he couldn't make self care decisions anymore. And so I said, well, John, one of the things we do is we want to look at what you've been putting in your mouth. In other words, what have you been eating? And so the revelation was that over time, this took a couple years, John was primarily drinking only caffeine, coffee, never drinking water anymore. And he had got himself up to 10 to 12 pots of coffee a day.
- [19:52]
John Fuller
Oh my goodness.
- [19:53]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
And that was his diet. Now can you imagine pots? So, and here was, I said, John, you must mean cups, cups of coffee. He said, no, no, they're pots. I go, what's a pot? He goes, you know, it's the home brewer. And what's a home brewer have? 10, 12, 10, 12 cups, cups of coffee in it. And that's all he did all day long.
- [20:13]
Jim Daly
Wow.
- [20:14]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So was he going to have anxiety? But here's what was remarkable. John said, nobody's ever asked me what I put in my mouth. I was just looking for the magic pill. And so did it take a while? Because was his digestion off? Was he depleted in B vitamins? Was there a lot of physical issues because of that? Yes. So you know, by God's design, what we put in our mouth ultimately will matter.
- [20:41]
Jim Daly
Yeah.
- [20:42]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
And so John had significant anxiety in his life. Now that wasn't the only reason. But was that a reason that amplified everything? Yes, contributing to that. And I have to tell you, I've never seen another John, I've never seen another person that does 10 to 12 pots of coffee a day. But that's the importance of what are you putting in your mouth that could be consumed?
- [21:03]
Jim Daly
And that helped him immeasurably.
- [21:05]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Well, what we did was it was one cup of coffee, then a bottle of water, one cup of coffee and that's how you had to do it.
- [21:11]
John Fuller
Start there.
- [21:12]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yeah. But you know, John couldn't walk around the block and so one of our team members actually walked him around the block. He wouldn't have the energy for it and he was afraid to go outside. So I, no matter how fear or anxiety has you paralyzed. There is hope for you. It comes by a plan, and God will give us that plan.
- [21:34]
Jim Daly
Yeah. You mentioned hope a few times through our time together yesterday and today.
- [21:39]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yes.
- [21:40]
Jim Daly
I want to talk about that story about James, who was, I think, a biologist. He had a number of family members that died of cancer, and he was contemplating taking his own life. Describe that setting and then what happened.
- [21:53]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
James had had significant loss, family member after family member, and it almost didn't seem real, like it was too much. And then his question that came to his mind was, why is it even worth living? Does my life even matter? And so he didn't have the relationships and in his mind, and he was brilliant, he had a brilliant mind, but he still came to the place of despair. And the place of despair said, my life is probably not worth living. I'll just join the others. That was where his thinking went. And so fear, anxiety can cause you to do two things, desperation and despair.
- [22:37]
Jim Daly
Yeah. And in that context, I think he went to an area of the beach where he knew there was a strong current. He was going to swim out and just stand. But it was as if the Lord sent a dog. Right. Describe that. I mean, this is that idea of hope you had mentioned.
- [22:53]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yes.
- [22:53]
Jim Daly
And what did this animal do that persuaded him that somebody cared?
- [22:58]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So, you know, it's. How does God do this? You know, So a dog runs on the beach and disrupts his plan and gets him thinking about other things.
- [23:06]
Jim Daly
Right. The dog's running between him and the beach and, like, not letting him go in the water.
- [23:11]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
God is at work in a great way. But see, it distracts. And that's when we get into anxiety. We need a truth distraction. So the Lord used that dog to distract him, and it gave him the.
- [23:26]
Jim Daly
Thought that somebody cares, somebody might care.
- [23:31]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yeah, yeah. So. And by the way, we're known at times to use pets in our treatment of anxiety.
- [23:40]
Jim Daly
Sure.
- [23:40]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
So this is part of God's design.
- [23:42]
Jim Daly
Yeah, I just think it's a beautiful story of hope, and God will use all kinds of things to bring us that hope. That's what I like about that. And let's end here. Faith in Christ is integral to healing from anxiety. Obviously, we've talked about this the last couple of days, the spiritual application to it, the foundation that you have to build everything upon. Take care of your spirit, then your body, and then begin to take notes on other things that are going on in your life. I think you've been very explicit. People need to get their book. We scratched the surface and we'll tell you how to get the book in a minute. But what I want to end with is what Jesus meant when he said ask, seek, and knock. Because you have a very specific application to those.
- [24:24]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Yes. And we want to keep knocking. There's times we feel like God's not hearing me. God doesn't care. Others don't understand, and it can get very dark. And my encouragement to you is this is not the time, not the season to stop knocking, because there will be an answer. There'll probably be multiple answers, and God may bring somebody into your life. I'm a big proponent of getting the right kind of help, you know, and maybe it's focused counselors, but stepping out and today doing something different.
- [24:58]
Jim Daly
Yeah, do something different. Don't be the same person tomorrow as you are today. And that's true for all of us.
- [25:04]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Well, and you have more courage than what you realize. Remember, anxiety is lying to you, and you don't feel courageous, but you're going to take a step. And the more steps you take, you will feel encouraged. Ultimately, there you go. The regret comes when I don't do anything.
- [25:20]
Jim Daly
Well, that's good, Greg. It's been so good to have you with us. Thank you so much for the hours you poured into doing the book. The anxiety reset the time you spent with us the last couple of days. Thanks for reaching out and helping so many with this issue of anxiety. Appreciate it.
- [25:34]
Dr. Gregory Jantz
Oh, and from the depths of my heart, I know there's hope.
- [25:37]
Jim Daly
Yeah. And let me turn to you, the viewer, the listener man. This is a subject that, as we talked about, is impacting so many people. One out of five adults, one out of four children. And as Dr. Jantz mentioned, that number is probably higher today compared to when that research was done. Get ahold of us. If you are experiencing this or a loved one, a family member is experiencing it, let us help. You certainly take advantage of a free counseling hour. Usually is what they'll spend with you. And then there's other human resources, someone in your area that is probably on our referral list that you can continue to dialogue with a caring Christian counselor. Plus, you can get a copy of Greg's book from us. And if you make a gift of any amount, we'll send it to you as our way of saying thank you for being part of the ministry. If you do that monthly, it really helps us. I often will say, if you can't afford it, this is about healing and helping. So just get ahold of us. We'll trust others. We'll cover the cost of that as part of the ministry. So bottom line, if you need help, get ahold of us and help is.
- [26:40]
John Fuller
A phone call away. 800-232-6459, 800, the letter A and the word family or click the links in the show notes. On behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us today for FOCUS on THE FAMILY with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller inviting you back next time as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ. Culture is changing so fast. How should Christians respond? At our next Lighthouse Voices event, you'll hear from John Stonestreet with the Colson Center.
- [27:21]
Jim Daly
We live in what is called a civilizational moment. Civilizations ebb and flow and we are at a pivotal moment. I think a lot of us have felt that existentially for a long time.
- [27:31]
John Fuller
Learn how to face this moment with clarity, confidence and courage. Lighthouse Voices is on April 15th and you can register for the free livestream@lighthousevoices.org.