Roger Marsh: This is Roger Marsh. And friend, I am so glad that you've tuned into Family Talk today. You may not have known that this past Sunday was World Mental Health Day, a day set aside to advocate for and pray for a mental illness recovery and understanding. Did you know that one in every four people in the US have suffered from an anxiety disorder during the past year? One out of every four. Odds are, you, or someone you know, or maybe a close friend, or family member, is suffering from anxiety right now. The COVID crisis and all of the surrounding political, social, and emotional ramifications have only exacerbated this tsunami of worry and stress. Anxiety, on one level or another, has been almost unavoidable for everyone. So to bring some hope to this issue, Dr. Tim Clinton spoke recently with his good friend and well-known mental health expert, Dr. Gregory Jantz.
Dr. Gregg Jantz is a licensed mental health expert and founder of The Center: A Place of Hope. Dr. Jantz is an expert on depression, anxiety, eating disorders, technology addiction, and abuse. He is a best-selling author and highly sought after authority on mental and behavioral health afflictions. Dr. Jantz and his wife, Lafon, have two sons, and reside in Washington State. Dr. Clinton and Dr. Jantz recently spoke and presented at this year's American Association of Christian Counselors World Conference. While they were there, they took some time out of their busy schedules to have the practical, biblical, and hopefully helpful conversation that you're about to hear. Their discussions centered around Dr. Jantz's book called, The Anxiety Reset. Here now is Dr. Tim Clinton with his guest.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, it's so great to have you in studio with us. It's great to see people again, and to have conversation, especially about a topic we love, and that's mental health.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: You know it, and boy, you're looking good. It's nice to see you.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, the COVID pandemic with the resulting lockdowns, the loss, I think back over the last 18 months, the racial tension and trauma that we all experienced, the rioting, the election chaos, impeachment trials, suppression, censorship, and the list goes on, and the COVID Delta variant. And here we go, Afghanistan, things like that. It's like the gift that doesn't stop giving, Gregg.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Well, it's been non-stop chronic unrelentless stress.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Yeah.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: And we're still in the middle of it.
Dr. Tim Clinton: What's interesting, Gregg, is a lot of people now are talking about trauma, collective trauma. That what we've been through is at that level, that kind of impact in our lives.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Absolutely. Well, for many, they've been retraumatized. And we also thought, hey, we made it through COVID, and then we didn't. And then we had the next surprise. And so it's those repeated significant events. Here's the key, that we feel like we don't have any control of.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Early on, Gregg, when the pandemic got started, a lot of experts said it's intuitive that we're going to see a rise in mental health issues, like anxiety and depression, relationship tension resulting in maybe violence or abuse and different things. And it's horrible to be on the receiving end of someone's anger. But this stuff is just, it's raging all over culture and things have changed in what we're living in and enduring, everything's changed. What are you seeing out on the frontlines?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Well, I think we're really, and thank you, well said. We really have a mental health pandemic. Look, we're at the tip of the iceberg of the issues we're seeing. Depression was at the top of the list, and the pandemic has created more and more of that. We have isolation. People have been inward, and now we see anxiety levels that are peaking at all-time highs, depending on where you live, we've even had supply chain issues related to certain medication, that tells you there's a problem. The third thing is addictions. So anxiety, depression and addictions. These are the three mental health issues that have never seen such high numbers.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, the anxiety word, a lot of people are saying, I feel so anxious. It's so different. I've heard people say, listen, I've got to turn that television off. I can't take it anymore. I can't watch it, because it's making me crazy. Gregg, help us understand the issue of fear and concern versus anxiety, where I'm now beginning to be consumed by something that is getting a grip on me, and what that looks like. And then how the word worry begins to feed and fuel a lot of this.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Oh, absolutely. Anxiety means I have physical symptoms. You see, we really have sleep issues going on. People are waking up in the middle of the night. They're gasping for air. They're feeling anxious. So we're dealing with anxiety, and what's happening is people have had enough of it. And then I start to look for, "Well, I need to feel differently now." And so, maybe they turn to alcohol, or they turn to something…
Dr. Tim Clinton: To calm themselves.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: To calm down, to change how they're feeling.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Which by the way, doesn't really calm.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: It really doesn't. It creates really more anxiety. So what we're seeing is individuals, and this is all ages right now. You look at what we're doing to our kids. Anxiety levels high for kids. And what's happening is we're finding self-destruction, people who are being pushed into despair, and despair is that hopelessness, and this is why we're seeing the suicide numbers also go up.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Yeah. Gregg, the American Psychological Association said about 25% of the United States population, that's a lot, one in four, experiencing anxiety disorder over the past year. When you think about that, and you had mentioned prescriptions.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: A lot of people, what they do to calm the anxiety in their life is they go seek a physician and get a medication to help take the edge off. And that has soared. So many people are taking anti-anxiety medications. Gregg, what are some of the true tale signs, again, that I've got a problem, that I've got an issue, that I need to resolve?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Well, one of the things is, what am I avoiding? So am I isolating? Am I doing things in secret in order to cope? Like drinking, pornography? What am I doing in secret? The other thing that if this is still going on, it's affecting my relationships, my sleep is being affected. I more than likely have some relationship conflict going on as a result of anxiety. And so, we need to say, "Okay, enough's enough. I need a new plan."
Dr. Tim Clinton: It's like Gregg, when you have a lot of things happening that you can't control. And when I begin to feel out of control, my mind begins to spin. And if you're a control freak, you like order in your world. And everybody listening, you know who you are.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: We all have a little bit of that need in our life, Gregg. It can begin to make us feel like we're spinning out of control and then we can't turn it off. And I know a lot of people will use the word rumination. The brain gets going where I try to stop thinking about what I'm afraid of, but I can't stop thinking about it.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: And I become paralyzed. I go into indecision. And what happens is, I'm oversaturated. People are dealing with what I'm calling anticipatory anxiety. It's like, "What's going to happen next?"
Dr. Tim Clinton: So, it's not just about what's happening now, it's what could happen?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: It's, what's going to happen next. And so we're always in this hypervigilant state of what's going to happen next. And what's happening is, fear also has a spiritual side to it. With fear, we're going to have spiritual warfare. And what I mean by that is, it's a tool of the enemy. We need to remember, it's not just what's going on inside, but fear is going to take you down a road spiritually where it feels like maybe God's far away.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Everybody worries a little bit.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Sure.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Hey, in this world, it's easy to have fear. And a lot of our fear, by the way, is rational fear. There's a difference between rational fear and irrational fear. Some things that make sense. If I see a snake, I've got fear.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Absolutely.
Dr. Tim Clinton: That thing might bite me. Irrational fear says, "Oh, there's a snake somewhere around this house." And there's no snake, "but I'm sensing a snake when there isn't a snake." That's irrational. I can get in my rational fear and obsession with the irrational peace in life.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Sure. I'm going to recycle things over and over. You see, anxiety distorts reality. I began to look through the lens of fear and it makes everything worse, and it causes me to feel powerless. And when that happens, I will begin to move more towards isolation. This is why we're seeing what we call generalized anxiety disorder at all-time highs, we're seeing social anxiety. People were, well, the old term was shelter-in-place. We have all this new language now. And now people are getting out more, and they've realized, man, I'm anxious. And then all the rules have changed. It's like, "Do I shake your hand? Do I hug you? What do I do?" Nobody knows. So the social rules have changed.
Dr. Tim Clinton: It paralyzes, like you said, everyone.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, you've written a beautiful new book called, The Anxiety Reset. And I want to talk about how we climb out of this chaos and find some sanity. But before we go there, Gregg, I want to talk to you a little bit more about triggers. The crazy thing here is when we get into this pattern or spin, certain things can trigger us to even go deeper into this. It's like, if you are afraid of an accident happening and you hear a siren, boom, you're emotionally just gone.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: That's that hyper vigilance, that hypersensitivity. We're so on edge that we're easily triggered.
Dr. Tim Clinton: It's like things that normally wouldn't have set you off, or things that may have been a one or two, on a scale of one to 10, are now threes and fours…
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Everything has intensified.
Dr. Tim Clinton: ... or they're fours and fives. It's like, because you're on hyper alert, all this stuff is going to a whole new place. And it's cascading, if you will, away from me. And it's like, I'm doing everything I can to get my hands around this and control it. I don't want to be like this. God help me. Be anxious for nothing. I'm quoting every verse there is.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Exactly.
Dr. Tim Clinton: And I can't find freedom.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes. And here's the thing. We tend to try to do it on our own. And that's the concern. We isolate. We do this on our own, and we realize, wow, the fear is still there. And then we feel that helplessness. So if you have triggers right now, that's pretty common. Let's just be aware of it. But how much power are we going to let that have in our life? And there are things right now, there's post-traumatic stress. People are being re-triggered, they're being retraumatized. And you can turn on news, and there's so much distrust. People don't know what to believe. What's true. Distrust breeds more anxiety. The place we've got to come to is, okay, this is going on. I'm beginning to cross that line where it's interfering with my life, that anxiety is so high that I've got now to ask for help.
Dr. Tim Clinton: You're listening to Family Talk, a division of the James Dobson Family Institute. I'm Dr. Tim Clinton. Our special in-studio guest, Dr. Gregg Jantz. One of my favorites. He heads The Center For Hope, actually a ministry of inpatient care ministering to people from all over the country and around the world. I've worked with Dr. Jantz in numerous situations, and seen the amazing work of the Lord in and through their ministry up there in Edmonds, Washington.
We're talking today about his new book called, The Anxiety Reset. Gregg, I want to go down that road of how do I step into a new way of life? How do I break free from this grip, because it's got a hold of me? And we mentioned earlier that medication for anxiety, these prescriptions are off the charts. Let's talk about medication just for a moment, the value of it. Sometimes you need something to shut the amygdala that's on insanity, hyper alert down a little bit to help calm this, because some of this can be a biological. And by the way, you may need to, "take the edge off." What does that mean to you?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: There's a very important role for medication. Okay. So we're not saying don't do it. What we're saying is add to that. Don't just see medication as the only thing you're going to do. If anxiety medication is appropriate, let's do that. Tim, the truth is, one in six individuals in the United States is on an anti-anxiety medication. That's one in six.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, they're taking it for a reason. Obviously doctors are seeing something in their life that needs to be calmed down.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: And with where we're at in medication today, a lot of people think if you take medication, you're going to go into some stupor. It's not good for your health, or whatever. And we would agree with this. There are people who are on medications who may not need to be on them. There are people who are not on that probably do need to be on them.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes. Good point.
Dr. Tim Clinton: It all depends on the uniqueness of the person and where they're at, and what they need in that moment. Now, once we understand that, and oh, by the way, they're so advanced now in medications, it's in a different lane that they're able to understand your body type. And the real issue is med management. And you may start on something and be off of it pretty quickly. It just depends on what your need is. Usually, and this is what I've learned, Gregg, and I'd like to hear your response. Medications are there to help free your mind so you can think more clearly and do the work you need to do. It isn't just medication, it's medication plus, we'll call it talk therapy. In other words, this journey of growth, "recalibrating your thoughts and how you manage your life."
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Exactly. And medications, these days, can be very targeted, and it will give us a little bit of relief, or a lot of relief. You can say, "Okay, now I feel like I can go outside and go for a walk." Your mind is able to move a little more over to action versus being paralyzed.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, you and your practice up in Edmonds, Washington, The Center for Hope, you guys have an approach called collaborative care. You're going to bring a lot of professionals in the room to help a person journey toward health.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Explain that to us.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Oh, absolutely. We've got the psychiatrists. We've got the medical team. We have natural health care. We have got the mental health team. We really want to look at the whole person. We also want to see, well, what's going on spiritually for this person? As well as what's going on chemically. For example, with anxiety, a simple blood draw may show that the thyroid is not doing what it's supposed to. That's going to create anxiety. So we want to cover all the basis.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Yeah. Gregg in Philippians 4, one of my favorite passages, the apostle Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing." That's a hard thing to do when the wheels are coming off. When bills aren't being paid, kids are out of control, my marriage isn't the way it's supposed to be. You're experiencing loss and challenge in life. You're discouraged. It's hard to be anxious for nothing. And I've often thought, how did Paul say that? And I looked, in verse four it says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I say, rejoice," in verse five, "Let your confidence be known to all, the Lord is at hand." There's something about, before he gets into verse six, when he says, "Be anxious for nothing," that we often miss in that verse five, and that is Paul believed that God was in the midst of his life, and that his heart was toward him.
Gregg, if you don't have the relationship piece anchored, it's when we feel like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, when we feel like God doesn't care about us, then we're pretty easy prey, if you will, for the evil one to bring a lot of discouragement into our lives, and insanity, if you will.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: The evil one will use intimidation. They will isolate, and it will create more and more anxiety. And isolation and intimidation. See, that's fear, intimidation. And it's easy to be intimidated. Right now if all I did was look at everything going on in the world, I could be overwhelmed. So I'm also reminded, II Timothy, 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power," there's that word power. "Love," okay, good. And here's the key, "A sound mind?" What do I need to do today to begin to build that sound mind?
Dr. Tim Clinton: But in everything, through prayer and supplication, Philippians 4:6, "Let your request be made known to God." I haven't thought about that verse two, Gregg, and I've heard you lecture on anxiety a lot. The ability to take ourself to a different place in our minds. And what Paul was saying there was, you got to bring your mind, if you will, in prayer.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Into God's lane, if you will. See him, see the work he's doing, and there's something about when you press in and you're with Thanksgiving, giving thanks to the Lord, no matter what's going on, there's always something to be thankful for. And if you could stop for a moment and practice that gratitude piece, it begins to calm you. Doesn't it?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: It does. We change our point of focus. For example, to start the day when writing down three gratitudes is a different way of starting a day, you go, well, I don't even believe it, but go ahead. You begin to put your mind in a different state to receive. Gratitude begins to build in your life. And gratitude creates optimism. Optimism is, I have hope for my future.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, the mind piece. Paul, wasn't silent on that either. In verse eight, he said that, "Things are lovely, just have good report and more." Think on these things. Talk to us about, let's call it that talk therapy side, and what you guys do, and how important it is to control our mind, because we can get lost in the negative real easy.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Absolutely. And one of the things we've got, and I said, point of focus, is my point of focus on all the anxiety, all the, what ifs, or is my point of focus on how is God at work? And that point of focus for my sound mind means I may need somebody to help me renew my thinking. I may need to learn new skills. I may need to start taking care of myself physically. For example, what if you were to go out for a walk, you're drinking your water, and you're praising God for all His faithfulness in your life. Is that a different perspective than isolating and living in secrecy? Give it some time, but we've got to begin to change some things physically. Don't stay in the same room. If you're getting panicked, you've got to get moving. Fear will come in on you. And what we're saying today is there are different options. It takes some time, but let's give it the time. You'll never regret it.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, in mental health, there's a common statement, it's this. Pay attention to what you're paying attention to. And I'll tell you what.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: I like that.
Dr. Tim Clinton: That stopped me a couple of times, because when my mind starts racing, it's like, wait a second, Tim, what have you been thinking all day about? No wonder you're anxious, no wonder you're out of control. Paying attention to what you're paying attention to then becomes a lane that says, Philippians 4:8, Tim change those thoughts. You talked about writing down those pieces on gratitude.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Yes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Paul's saying also, good, just lovely, of good report and more. Think on those things. Gregg, it's hard to, "do thought stopping." And then if I have negative thoughts to do thought insertion, in other words, to bring in the good thoughts, that's the real challenge here, isn't it?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Oh, it is. And you're going to say, "Well, I've already tried that, it doesn't work." What I want you to do is, give this a good 30 day run. Give this 30 days of changing, resetting some things that you have been doing, and watch what happens over the course of 30 days. We're going to build a foundation to live differently. Now, it doesn't mean anxiety won't come back in your life. But what we want to remove is the paralyzing anxiety that has caused you to really be disabled, if you will, in who and what you want to do with your life.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, there's something about the dynamic of relationship here that becomes important. I think in Philippians 4:9, Paul said, "Those things you have both heard, learn and seen in me, do them. And the peace of God will flow basically from the God of peace and rain and ruin your heart and life." There's something about one another, being together. I've often said, this is about kids. Kids aren't afraid of the dark. They're afraid of being alone in the dark. Gregg, we need God more, and we need each other more, don't we?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Oh, we need each other. Anxiety is not resolved when you stay in isolation, we need each other.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Gregg, give us a closing thought here. The Anxiety Reset. When people get into the pages of that book, what is it that you hope they walk away from it with?
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Well, we all need an action step. We all need each day to make progress every day. So it's not that everything is suddenly okay, it's every day I'm building a new foundation. It doesn't mean anxiety won't come back, but I'll know what to do when it does. And I won't stay in it. I will not live in anxiety. I'll deal with it when it comes.
Dr. Tim Clinton: So it's a choice, every day.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Every day, we make that decision.
Dr. Tim Clinton: Always great to have you, Gregg. Such a delight. Dr. Dobson, our entire team here, we think so much of you and your great ministry. And tip our hat to the work that you're doing and pray that God continues to use you for such a time as this. Thank you for joining us.
Dr. Gregory Jantz: Thank you.
Roger Marsh: If you struggle with anxiety, question, what action steps are you going to take today? Will you take a walk, practice gratitude, maybe look for a counselor? Today here on Family Talk, we've been talking about anxiety and being anxious for nothing, The Anxiety Reset. And if you are thinking about looking for a counselor, why not visit connect.aacc.net. There you'll find a directory of Christian counselors near you. That's connect.aacc.net. Remember, seeking help is not a sign of weakness, it's a decision to continue working toward your emotional and mental health wellness.
Well, we hope that you've been encouraged by Dr. Tim Clinton's conversation with Dr. Gregg Jantz today here on Family Talk. When you get a chance, make sure you visit drjamesdobson.org, to learn more about Gregg Jantz, his book, The Anxiety Reset, and his mental health clinic called The Center: A Place of Hope. Again, that web address is drjamesdobson.org/broadcast, or you can give us a call at (877) 732-6825. Well, that's it for the week. Thanks again for joining us for Family Talk today. And for Dr. Dobson, his wife, Shirley, Dr. Tim Clinton and everyone else here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, I'm Roger Marsh. God's richest blessings to you and your family.
Announcer: This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.