I've been conversing with a TBM friend about the church. Been doing my bit to spread the facts and truth with the brainwashed.

Anyway, he's approached his local leaders about his concerns. Their response was to ignore his questions and to send him the following link to this article about anxiety in the March 2017 Ensign. My friend does have a clinical level of anxiety, and his leaders know this.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/03/anxiety-and-anxiety-disorders?lang=eng

Well it hasn't gone over too well with my friend. He now feels insulted, and this line was a humdinger in the article,

"Anxiety is loud and obnoxious, so to speak, making it difficult to feel the Spirit and depend on your faith. Faith is trust in God. The opposite of faith is uncertainty and mistrust. Is it any wonder that anxiety disorders often undermine faith?"

It is now starting to be clear his church leaders are more interested in pointing out what is wrong with him, rather than trying to look at what might be wrong with the church. This is such a typical below the belt blow from Mormons to try and blame the person, and not address the actual issues.

This type of blaming the anxiety issues of a person for their questioning nature is outrageous. What a stupid Mormon church, teaching in their premier magazine that people with anxiety have spiritual problems because of that anxiety. That is just total bloody nonsense.

I love it! Long live the Ensign and the uninspired words from those that don't have a clue.

My friend however, he isn't so impressed by it as me, ha ha ha.

Anxiety is not loud and obnoxious. People are loud and obnoxious, especially ignorant folks with opinions based on ignorance.

I think that the people I know who feel anxiety, are often very quiet, trying to hide it.

The only way anyone can survive in the church today is to be deaf, dumb, and blind.

To be TBM means to have tunnel vision in the extreme, looking neither left or right, but straight ahead.

There is no rhyme or reason to the madness.

That's just insulting to be told his questions and doubts are from his anxiety, rather than the church admitting to teaching falsehoods and lies.

It will never come clean, as long as it has the clueless who are willing to follow the lead.

There's a "brain drain" in the church, and it's hemorrhaging its members because of the suffocation it does to questioning minds.

The Church is becoming Pop Psychology mixed with religion. Even the GA's talk seem to be pop psychology mingled with scriptures. I should know. I have a PhD is Psychology. That is what I am seeing and its creating some interesting problems.

I have talked to 4 women recently. (60 years plus). Why are they single. Porn. Not one of them indicated that the relationship may have had other problems. Now where would they get ideas like that, that the marriage broke up because of porn.

From the above link.

"If you can replace irrational thoughts and beliefs with more rational, comforting ones, your anxiety will drop and become more normal."

So ditch Mormonism.

Exactly!

Ditch the irrational Mormonism and the anxiety will diminish. After a while anyway.

My church anxiety dissipated when I stopped going. It is very comforting to me to not participate in the Mormon church, not read their books, not listen to their talks. I feel more rational now that I don't have to try to make all the crazy ideas work in my brain. I have replaced irrational thoughts and beliefs with more rational, comforting ones.

When I left the church, the majority of my anxiety went with it.
I instantly became calmer, not worried about every little thing in this life or any other life. I focused on here and now. My family has noticed a difference.

I no longer live in a stew of unearned guilt and fears.

I seriously don't know how I would be today without ditching Mormonism. My anxiety levels would have been killer. I don't see how Mormonism isn't multiple personality disorder. I was able to refute my wife this morning successfully in pointing out how more relaxed I am without Mormonism.

Echoing some of the above sentiments.

My anxiety diminished when I no longer worried about worthiness interviews.

My anxiety diminished when I stopped trying to live up to an unattainable ideal.

My anxiety diminished when I realized that whether or not things worked out in my life was no reflection on my worthiness, goodness or righteousness.

My anxiety diminished when I stopped trying to fit square pegs in round holes (also known as trying to get Mormon doctrine to comport with reality).

My anxiety is not gone--that's life--but it's far less because I don't feel like I need to measure up to Mormon "standards."

I've been anxious my entire life (weird upbringing; long story).

Some time ago I started taking Prozac (actually generic fluoxetine). It's done wonders. An interesting take-away is that I learned that my anxiety was a precursor to two other undesirable states: anger and depression. Since cancelling out the anxiety, my frequent bouts of anger and depression have almost completely disappeared. Meanwhile I seem to be getting more stuff done, and when I don't get stuff done I don't beat myself up about it. And I'm 99% sure that I'm nicer to be around--less judgmental, more receptive, a better listener. I have less to prove--turns out I'm okay after all.

Prozac, an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor), isn't for everyone. However, I urge folks struggling with anxiety and other maladies to speak with a trusted physician. Maybe it can help.

And I'd stay miles away from any church-related advice, however well-intended. I don't trust my brain chemistry to amateurs with irrational agendas.

Tscc causes (or certainly add to) the anxiety (with its emptiness, lies, excuses, etc., etc., etc.) and blames the anxiety elsewhere - while saying it could help... though it has no answers, relief or ways to do that.

The anxiety alone from not pulling your weight in vacuuming chapel Cheerios is enough to give me hives from thinking of God's wrath.

Thinking some more about this post this morning...

I think it's very important to work on shedding chronic anxiety, whatever its source (the church or elsewhere). And shedding anxiety is totally doable.

As we know, Nature abhors a vacuum, and jettisoning chronic anxiety creates a vacuum. What enters in its place? For me and I suspect many others, a lot of good stuff. For example, I became much more aware of the many positive possibilities in my life--things I can do, things I have control over that benefit me and others. There is, in fact, a fair amount of joy hovering around me, free for the asking. But I had failed to ask, because anxiety had tied me in knots.

I mean, I was afraid to be a goofball! And it turns out I'm pretty good at it--doing silly stuff, being the class clown. I put on my Guy Fawkes mask and sneak up behind my wife and scare the daylights out of her, and she yelps and smacks me on my butt, and my stepdaughters laugh and the puppy barks and nips at my feet, and the girls' grandmother giggles and her greatgrandson stops crying--all just because I stopped being afraid of looking stupid. Life is good!

Shedding anxiety is not a quick or easy process. And IMO it is better done without the intrusion of TSCC. But however we accomplish it, it's a path worth taking.

+1000