Philosopher JP Moreland shares how twice he was incapacitated for months by panic attacks and anxiety. His new book, Finding Quiet, seeks to make the most of his suffering, condensing the crucial lessons learned from his research. He and guest host Mike Keas address the relative evidence for the soul and the brain, the integration of faith with knowledge from the social and natural sciences, and biblical and practical ways to retrain your brain and body to defeat habits of anxiety and depression.

Show Notes

• 00:34 | Guest host Michael Keas
• 00:54 | Introducing JP Moreland, philosopher and author of Finding Quiet
• 01:23 | The panic attack and recurrent nervous breakdown that led to JP’s journey to conquer anxiety
• 03:48 | Writing Finding Quiet to redeem the suffering by sharing lessons learned
• 04:22 | Why are many people of faith reluctant to take psychiatric drugs?
• 06:20 | Medication is not unspiritual. Our souls have bodies.
• 06:40 | A holistic, body and soul approach to anxiety
• 07:30 | Not just medications but a multi-dimensional approach
• 08:00 | Why think we have an immaterial soul? What difference does it make whether there’s a soul?
• 09:31 | Freely using our minds to restructure and heal our brains.
• 10:05 | Training our bodies as instruments of righteousness
• 11:16 | Retraining our habits, triggers, and “neuron grooves”
• 12:24 | Knowledge of the soul versus of the brain
• 13:43 | Atoms arranged in space and the brain as a cloud
• 14:57 | Does the brain exist on a materialistic view?
• 15:35 | Integrating faith with the natural and social sciences
• 16:29 | John Wesley on a great and dangerous mistake
• 17:22 | Freedom to follow the evidence
• 18:39 | The precedent of Kepler, Newton, and Galileo
• 19:35 | How do thinking and feeling interrelate?
• 20:05 | Talking ourselves into and out of distress
• 21:07 | Anxiety and depression as largely habits
• 21:39 | Muscle memory, “golf flesh”, and “golf righteousness”
• 24:39 | “Cutting new grooves” with new habits
• 26:04 | Neuroplasticity and changing the chemistry and structure of the brain
• 28:04 | “Neurons that fire together, wire together”
• 28:25 | Using anti-depressants in conjunction with spiritual formation
• 29:06 | The brain as an engine, serotonin and dopamine as oil
• 31:00 | Tip: If counseling and spiritual practices aren’t helping, investigate medication for biological issues
• 32:24 | EMDR and addressing the brain impacts of childhood trauma
• 35:05 | The Four Step Solution as a means of transforming the brain
• 37:12 | Catastrophism, one of the ten thought disorders
• 38:00 | Refocusing, turning from habitual bad thoughts

Additional Resources

• JP Moreland’s Website
• Finding Quiet: My Story of Overcoming Anxiety and the Practices that Brought Peace by JP Moreland at Amazon.com
• The Soul: How We Know It’s Real and Why It Matters by JP Moreland
• “On Anxiety Problems Today” at YouTube
• Romans 6
• Scientism and Secularism by JP Moreland