Patients are faced with a choice: Pop a pill? Or say a prayer and eat an apple?

What is anxiety?

When we experience or perceive challenges to our well-being that exceed our ability to cope, the psychological condition that results is called stress. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. Generally defined, anxiety is a “feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.” (It is important to distinguish between anxiety and anxiety disorders. Individuals suffering from the latter must meet criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, including experience of “excessive anxiety and worry” that lasts at least six months and symptoms that cause “clinically significant distress” and/or interfere with the individual’s ability to function.)

What causes anxiety?

What do you spend most of your time worrying about? Whether your answer is money, love, looks or just what other people think about you – every worry has the same thing in common: an uncertain outcome. Philosopher-theologian Soren Kierkegaard first popularized this notion in the 19th-century, writing that anxiety “is altogether different from fear and similar concepts that refer to something definite” (The Concept of Anxiety). In a separate journal entry, Kierkegaard observes: