Lesson 6
Lesson 6 – OVERCOMING ANXIETY
Teacher Preparation
Key Concepts
Anxiety is everyone’s experience in varying amounts at different times. We can learn to manage our body’s reactions and, over time, learn to reduce our anxiety.
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. Discuss some of the causes of anxiety.
2. Describe and explain the 4 Steps to Reduce Anxiety.
Key Terms
Anxiety: Apprehensive uneasiness or nervousness usually over impending or anticipated trouble, and with self-doubt about one’s capacity to cope with it.
Reacting: When threatened, or even when surprised, our limbic system—half of our central nervous system—alarms us chemically and we react. This happens before we can think of an appropriate response.
Responding: When asked a question and given even a few seconds to think, we can thoughtfully respond, choose, or take action.
Background Information
Anxiety can build up. It can start from very low anxiety, like boredom, to a small amount of interest and grow. Little interest can build up to more concern, and then to a greater level which may cause reaction to a perceived threat. That reaction can create a barely tolerable state, an intolerable level in an emergency, or an overwhelming panic attack.
For most of us, anxiety is occasional and temporary as in worry over something specific. In some people, anxiety can build to a chronic state of fear.
The most common trigger to anxiety is a perceived threat, like expecting a troubling result from a school test or health test to a meaningless verbal threat or even a very real physical danger. Danger from a perceived threat may be real or imagined, but our brains are designed to react quickly, even before we can think about it, in order to survive.
Chronic anxiety is the result of predicting that in the future everything will continue being as bad as life is presently, if not worse.
But we can learn to manage our body’s reaction, to think before reacting, and to respond instead of react. Over time, we will reduce our anxiety.
The summary of research on people who learned how to manage their body reactions to threats—they were pretested, post-tested after six weeks, and then tested again after three months—includes these results:
• Stress reduced by 22%.
• Depression reduced by 34%.
• Percentage of cortisol in the blood reduced by 23%.
• Increased production of Immunoglobulin A—the body’s defense against infection.
• Of the corporate executives pretested who said they had heart palpitations often or all the time (47%), in post-test after six weeks only 30% were still experiencing them, and after three months only 25% were still experiencing palpitations.
• Same research: symptoms of physical tension dropped from 41% to 15% to 6%.
• Insomnia declined from 34% to 6%.
• Feelings of exhaustion declined from 50% to 12%.
• Different aches and pains, including backache, from 30% to 6%.
• Proportion of employees who said they were anxious most of the time down from 33% to 5%.
• Percentage “dissatisfied” reduced from 30% to 9%, “angry” from 20% to 8%.
(Adapted from David Servan-Schreiber. [2003, 2004] The Instinct to Heal. St. Martins)
Materials and Preparation
Before class:
1. Draw the dot diagram in the story on the board.
2. Write the five questions in Step 4 on your chalkboard, whiteboard, or a sheet of newsprint you hang on the wall.
Beginning the Lesson
Introduction
About 5 minutes
[Ask your students to write on a piece of paper what threat they have experienced that made them feel anxious. Tell your students, if the experience they first think about is too scary or personal to talk about in class, they may write about another threat that is less scary or personal.
Pick a student whom you see writing but does not normally offer an answer and ask him or her what they wrote. After listening to this student’s answer, thank him or her and ask to hear a second threat experience from any of your class members.
Request four or five more threat experiences.]
= 5 minutes
Perceived Threat Activity
About 15 minutes
[Share the following material, one point at a time, giving your students opportunities to ask questions or give their own examples of each point:]
• Anxiety is everyone’s experience in varying amounts at different times. From very low anxiety called boredom to a small amount called interest, to a little more called concern, to a greater level in reaction to a perceived threat, to a barely tolerable or intolerable level in an emergency, to an overwhelming panic attack.
• Anxiety can be occasional and temporary as in worry over something specific or it can be a chronic state of fear.
• The most common trigger to anxiety is a perceived threat. The danger may be real or imagined. And whether real or imagined, our brains are designed to react quickly with a strong feeling, even before we can think about it, to a perceived threat in order to survive.
• Anxiety becomes chronic—a persistent condition going on for a long time— when we focus on the threats we feel and our feeling that we cannot do
anything to avoid the threatened pain.
[Ask your students to form groups of three.]
It is natural to think about the people, events, and circumstances that threaten us such as enemies, mountains, obstacles, monsters–all things we cannot control.
[In your groups of three please choose a recorder, and share with each other some of the people, events, and circumstances you cannot control. Recorders, please list your group members’ comments as well as your own. Work quickly! You have only three minutes.
After three minutes, ask for recorders to share their lists with the class, one group at a time. Write some of the common issues on the chalkboard, then share the following:]
When we focus on threats we cannot control, it is like seeing a bad storm coming toward us and just standing still instead of running to a shelter.
The hard reality is there are very few things in life we can control—except for one thing. We can control our responses to all the things we cannot control. We can develop and exercise self-control!
= 20 minutes
Sharing Anxious feelings Activity
About 5 minutes
[Ask your students to describe what they feel when they are anxious. As they reply, write their feeling words on the chalkboard.]
Now we will read and listen to Sam’s conversation with Volqert about anxiety.
= 25 minutes
Story
About 10 minutes
[For clarity, you may want to have a student read the Volqert part.]
Sam yawned as he unlocked his phone to see an incoming message.
Volqert: What emotion describes your “internal atmosphere” this morning?
Sam laughed as he replied. “Sleepy.”
Volqert: Sleepy is not an emotion. Care to try again?
“It is good to hear your voice! It makes me smile,” said Sam. “I have not been sleeping all that well lately. I guess something has been bothering me—I feel anxious.”
Volqert: So, you are worried about something.
“I guess. I have not really thought about it,” replied Sam.
Volqert: It has a lot to do with how you connect the dots.
“What do you mean?”
Volqert: Life is not a random set of events, and what is happening beneath the waterline affects what is going on above the waterline.
“You have lost me,” moaned Sam. “Waterlines? Beneath the surface of what?”
Volqert: Why do you not try connecting the dots?
“I can already guess what it is,” laughed Sam. “It is an iceberg. So, I am like an iceberg, huh?”
Volqert: There is more to you than meets the eye, like your soul.
“My soul? I have not thought much about my soul. I am not even sure I know what it is.”
The following screen appeared on Sam’s phone:
soul/sōl
A part of humans regarded as immaterial, immortal, separable from the body at death, capable of moral judgment, and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state. (From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.)
“Wow! I guess my soul is pretty important when it comes to my ‘internal atmosphere.’”
Volqert: That is why the Evil String Masters target your soul with messages to get you to do what they want.
“I do not know what The Evil String Masters want,” said Sam.
Volqert: They want to keep you in a constant state of anxiety by saying “It is never enough,” or by asking, “What if?”
“What is not enough?” asked Sam.
Volqert: How much your friends like you, your teacher’s preference for you over your classmates, how much money your family has—none of it is ever enough.
“What do you mean, ‘What If?’” Sam queried.
Volqert: What if you fail a class, what if your friend tells your secret, what if your mom gets sick—all of those things that cause your stomach to churn.
“Wow! I hear those messages all the time! They leave me feeling afraid and helpless.”
Volqert: The Evil String Masters are impoverishing spirits that try to get you to connect the dots in a way that keeps you anxious, insecure, and exhausted.
“So what should I do?”
Volqert: You inhabit a much bigger world than the piece of it the Enemy wants you to focus on. So explore it and connect with it—take a walk, sing, help somebody in need. Reconcile with the 4 Steps in the lesson.
“It sounds kind of simple,” said Sam.
Volqert: Would you rather I explained how all of this affects your physical and spiritual neurological pathways, lowers your cortisol levels, and increases your serotonin and dopamine?
“Reconcile with the 4 Steps in the lesson. Plus a walk is sounding pretty good right now,” replied Sam.
Tony & Darlene
7:10 p.m.
To: Sam
Re: Living with yourself
______________________
Dear Sam,
Volqert’s question about your “internal atmosphere” is at the heart of most things. Your thoughts, emotions, and what you value go a long way in determining whether or not you will be “good company.” As Uncle Marvin loves to say, “You have to live with yourself for the rest of your life.” The unseen Enemy has never been good company, and those that let him get his hooks in them are not much fun to be around, either.
Digging out the “hooks” is more painful than not getting hooked in the first place, but either way, you can still get free. Boy, do we know about both options! Hugs,
Tony and Darlene
t.d.maranara247@naviga.com
4 Steps to Reduce Anxiety
= 35 minutes
About 15 minutes
Sounds like Sam can relate to our feelings of anxiety. He talked about four steps that help him deal with anxiety.
Did you know we can learn to manage our body’s reaction? That is what the 4 Steps is all about. We can manage our body’s reaction and think before reacting, so we respond instead of just react. Then, as we practice these steps, over time we will see our anxiety reduced as our confidence builds.
Notice, I use two words which are often used interchangeably, but they are not synonyms. The words are “reaction” and “response.”
A reaction is what you do without thinking when you feel a threat or a surprise. We react to good surprises like walking through your front door and all your friends are there and jump out saying, “Surprise! Happy Birthday!” We also react to bad surprises like opening a container that was under pressure, and when the cap finally comes off, the liquid explodes onto your face.
A response is what you do or say after you have thought about a surprise or a question or even an expression on someone’s face. Responses to threats are almost always better than reactions, but you have to give yourself a few seconds to think.
Are you ready to learn the four steps that helped Sam?
Step 1: Two Deep Breaths
When you feel surprised, a rush of fear, your heart racing, or other symptoms of anxiety or fear, take two deep breaths. I will show you how it is done.
Here are the directions:
Count to four with each movement. Count to four as you slowly raise your hands; then count to four as you hold your hands over your head; then count to four as you slowly exhale bringing your hands back down to your sides.
I will demonstrate:
1. Inhale, slowly raising your hands from your sides to up over your head as far as you can reach. Count aloud to four as you raise your hands.
2. Keep your hands high as you count aloud to four again, holding your breath.
3. Slowly lower your hands to your sides, counting to four while lowering your hands.
Let us do it together.
We will go through the entire exercise two times. Follow my hands. [Have the students sit up straight or stand up straight.]
1. Inhale, slowly raising your hands from your sides to up over your head as far as you can reach. Count to four as you raise your hands.
2. Keep your hands high as you count to four again, holding your breath.
3. Slowly lower your hands to your sides, counting to four as you do.
That was Step 1—Two Deep Breaths!
Simple, right? But here is why it is so important: Two deep breaths give you the time you need to interrupt your automatic reaction and time to begin thinking about a better response. Two deep breaths also begin to slow down your heart rate, so you feel less pressure to automatically react. You might not be in a situation where you can raise your hands but do the breathing and be sure to count to four with each movement.
Are there any questions you want to ask about Step 1?
If you do Step 1 and find you are still anxious, go to Step 2.
Step 2: Focused Breathing
In Step 2, you continue to breathe as you did in Step 1 and you focus your attention on your heart and lungs. For Step 2, you breathe deeply for eight
breaths instead of two.
The first thing you will notice as you deeply inhale fresh oxygen, is that your lungs will feel lighter and you will feel an increase in energy. You will probably
yawn after a few deep breaths, and that is good; oxygen is getting fully into your lungs.
As you breathe, turn your attention to your body, noticing any part of your body that is tense, and focus on relaxing that tension. This is called “mindsight.”
Let us do Step 2 together.
[Lead the students in doing eight deep breaths.]
After eight deep breaths, you will find you are much less angry or depressed or anxious than before Step 1, and the threat is much less dangerous. This is an important part of what is called self-control. And think about this: eight deep breaths give you more time to think of a good response than two breaths! These are some of the benefits of Step 2.
Another variation to deep breathing you will find helpful is to take at least one deep breath before you answer each question on an exam. What does deep
breathing in this situation do? It gets more oxygen to your brain, especially the thinking and reasoning parts of your brain. I think you will like the results.
[Ask your students to form groups of 3.]
Step 3: Sincere Gratitude
Another way to manage your body’s reaction to deeper anxiety or long-term threat is to take a few minutes to think about people or experiences for which you are grateful.
Gratitude also actually affects your heart! Thinking about someone you love, something you enjoy, or the memory of a special experience slows your heartrate from the rapid rate reaction to threat to a slower, steady beat. The more you focus on gratitude, the less cortisol is being pumped into your bloodstream, and the more relaxed you become.
Practice gratefulness regularly for six months, and you will find you have become far less anxious.
In your groups, I would like you to share with each other at least one person or experience for which you are grateful. You will have 3 minutes each to share the experience and your gratitude. I will call time at the end of each 3 minute segment so the next person in your group can share his or her gratefulness, too.
At the end of nine minutes, I will call time and ask for any questions anyone might have about Step 3.
Step 4: Five Helpful Questions
If you continue to be anxious, here are five helpful questions to help you sort out your feelings. These are questions you can work through by yourself, or you can discuss them with a trusted person.
Write these questions in your journal, so you will have them to use when you are faced with a situation causing you anxiety. [Read the questions or write them on the chalkboard for students to copy into their journals.]
Here are the five questions:
1. Is this a perceived threat or a real threat?
2. Is this threat a new experience—something I have never faced before?
3. Is this threat an experience I have had in the past that hurt me or left me feeling alone and helpless?
4. Whom can I count on to help me deal with the threat? Siblings? Teachers? God? 5. Which one of these people will be the best to talk with about my situation?
Now let us do this next exercise: Choose a situation that causes you repeated anxiety. Think through how you would answer each of these questions in that situation. When you work though these questions privately, it is best to write out the answers.
Referring to the list on the board, which of the above five questions do you think asking yourself would help you the most?
It seems that taking action in relationships is most certainly better than doing what we have always done when feeling threatened—like stewing in anxiety,
exploding in anger, sinking into depression, getting absorbed in media (especially pornography), bullying someone weaker, or even just getting busier to
avoid thinking about it.
[If your students are no longer in their groups, ask them to return to their triads while you write on the chalkboard.
Then ask your students in their triads to discuss the anxiety they just thought about, tell them to ask each other questions from the list of five questions you wrote on the chalkboard, and then suggest alternative responses a student might try to replace anxiety.]
Please know that I am available to talk with you outside of class about anxiety if that would be helpful.
= 40 minutes
ending the lesson
Review and Practice About 5 minutes
[As you review the 4 steps, say, “Step 1” and let the students all say, “Two deep breaths.” Continue reviewing the same way through Step 3.
For Step 4, just read it to your students and then add the summary about practicing.]
I have introduced you to four steps to manage your body’s reactions to threat.
Step 1: Two deep breaths.
Step 2: Eight more deep breaths focusing on your breathing and heart rate.
Step 3: Think about people and experiences for which you are grateful.
Step 4: Think about the threat, ask yourself questions about it, and take action to
change your normal, intuitive response.
These four steps can literally change your life—if you practice them regularly, even by just thinking about previous threats you have experienced and taking the steps as you recall those experiences.
But if you do not practice these steps, you will forget them and continue reacting to threats in the way you have always reacted. Your anxiety, anger, depression, absorption of media (especially pornography), bullying, or getting busier to avoid thinking about the threat will continue indefinitely, hurting you and the people around you, and may possibly lead you into a chronic condition of anxiety.
= 45 minutes
Resources
GOING DEEPER
The 4-step process for managing your body’s reaction to threat works if it is learned and practiced because God made our brains to react immediately in the face of emergencies and life-threatening situations. But not every perceived threat is actually a threat, so as we grow up and survive threatening experiences, we use our abilities to think about threats and respond more appropriately to situations.
For the person who has a personal relationship with God, there is a way to face threatening situations with little or no anxiety, and it is because of the
relationship we have with God. After becoming a child of God and learning about all the benefits of being His child, we begin to understand, then live in the awareness that we live under the protection of the God who created the universe, including our brains. There is nothing that can touch us or harm us without God’s awareness and permission. So, when we experience a threat or a series of threatening situations and begin to experience increasing anxiety, we have the invitation to replace anxiety with peace.
Here’s how: When we become aware that we are anxious, we are invited to talk with God about what we are experiencing, draw on God’s supply to meet our needs, request from God what we need, and thank God for hearing us, protecting us, and providing what we need. When we do this, God promises to keep our heart and our mind (emotions and thoughts) in a way that surpasses understanding.
Let us look at each instruction and promise one at a time:
First, when we become aware of our anxiety, God wants us to tell Him about the threats. Most little children when threatened run to their daddies. But some daddies cannot be bothered, are too busy to respond, or are uncomfortable if they cannot stop their child from crying. So, kids growing up in this kind of home learn to keep their troubles to themselves and just try to cope with the anxiety. But God always listens and hears our cries for help.
Secondly, God invites us to draw on His supplies to meet our needs. The promises are not that God will meet our whims or fantasies. God knows what is
good for us and what will make things worse and hurt us. As we get to know Him better, we begin to understand that He knows better than we know what is good for us.
Third, God wants us to actually request our needs because He wants us to come talk with Him, not just assume that since He knows everything He will be bothered by our requests. God actually delights in our requests.
Fourth, when we thank God even before He has met our need, we demonstrate our trust in Him, His goodness, and His generosity. Our confidence in God keeps growing as we keep trusting.
Fifth, God promises to keep our heart, the part of our brains that first responds to a threat we perceive. When our limbic system—the part of our brain that turns our emotions on and off—sounds an internal alarm and we remember that God is our protector (we may not even understand how), God reminds us of His presence and His peace which surpass our fear.
Sixth, God promises to keep our mind, the part of our brains that responds in thought. We might want to respond with magical, wishful thinking or denial, but if we listen, God’s Spirit in us reminds us that God knows what is happening and loves us too much to let something happen to us without His presence.
These instructions and promises are found in Philippians 4:6-7. Another passage assures us that if God is for us, who can stand against us? This is a quote from Romans 8:31.
Parent-Teacher Connection
For Family Discussion
In this week’s lesson, I taught your son or daughter a 4-step process to manage their body’s reactions to threat. Threats might include an impending exam, being bullied, being rejected by a girlfriend or boyfriend, dad or mom talking about taking a mobile phone or other device away, being ostracized by his or her friends, and many more possibilities.
Our lesson was about how to interrupt a reaction and replace it with a thoughtful response.
Please ask you son or daughter to teach you the 4-step process. Doing so will inform you and reinforce what your teenager learned in class. Then, as you practice this process together, you will, in time, notice a reduction in anxiety, and you will experience more peace and civility in your home.
