Masland Library Blog

Although the Worldview conference was a few months ago, it has been prevalent on my mind ever since.  Dr. Jeff Black, the head of the counseling department, spoke about anxiety.  At first he addressed General Anxiety Disorders and differentiated those from the common everyday anxiety. Dr. Black described that the truth of the matter is that all humans are worriers and have anxiety to some extent; therefore we all have something to take from what he had to say.  Dr. Black explained that people worry because they do believe to some extent that there is a positive element to it.  For example, they often truly believe that worry can find solutions, that it increases motivation to get things done, that it decreases the negative reaction if a dreaded event does take place, that it can prevent bad things from happening, or that it displays a responsible and caring person.  Although these are certainly common ideologies, they are also unhealthy ways for the anxious individual to wrongly defend their worry and anxieties. 

            

Something I found of interest from Dr. Black’s session was the way in which he compared worry and anxiety to an individual putting themselves back under the Old Testament law system.  Worry certainly does increase a sense of self-conceit and self-reliance.  When an anxious person tries harder and harder and yet they fail, this results in a disordered person.  Dr. Black suggested that grace from the law and grace from the thinking that an individual can manage it on their own, is the only way out of this trap of worry.

           

Ever since this session at the conference, I have found this topic to be of interest and even applicable to my own life.  I don’t know about you, but I know sometimes life can be really stressful.  Know that anxiety does not always have to be an officially diagnosed disorder. Our busy lives simply set us up for this.  Because of this, I have taken the time to find some additional resources on this topic, so I hope you will too!  Our library does not have these titles, but you can request them through Interlibrary Loan at no cost to you!

Suggestions:

Anxious for Nothing by John MacArthur

Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World  by Joanna Weaver

-Christa Joy Ciotta