Setbacks?

[Jboase]

I'm a 22 year old male and I've been suffering from GAD since last November (2014) with endless doctor and hospital trips and being made out to be a pest every time I visited my doctor to express how desperate I needed help for him to tell me I'm fine each time. I was suffering from every symptom I could possibly think off.. I felt extremely drunk with a bunch of nerves/body sensations. I visited the priory hospital late March (2015) and gradually built up my dose of medication and got a good knowledge of severe anxiety and the affects it has, which has helped me drastically so I could start to slowly build up my confidence. I have had little setbacks which tend to last around a week where some symptoms krept up, but since Monday I've been experiencing the worst setback to date where my body won't function and all symptoms have flared up, which sends me into all negative thoughts and 'I'm back to square one' I saw my DR yesterday who said setbacks are a normal step towards recovery but as I'm sure some of you know when you experience a setback it's hard to see a way out! This is my first time I've posted on any forum, it would be comforting to hear if anyone on here has experienced big setbacks on the road to recovery and any tips they might have? :) thanks

[Oosh]

"I'm back to square one" is only an idea, a fear even. That doesn't mean it's true.

I found after spending years with my default being anxious I could find times when I was in a different place and feeling better felt good. That new way of feeling was literally built out of different things I was focusing on, experiences I'd found confidence in, fun I'd had, new perspectives I'd developed, things I was looking forward to, a better way I saw myself, my situation and others etc etc.

But it would be in periods of a week or a few weeks, maybe a few months then I'd find myself feeling the old way. It's natural to find you feel the old way sometimes and it could happen because I felt or thought an old way and that brought back the old way of seeing/feeling things. But it doesn't mean any things back. It just means you've remembered the old way of thinking/feeling/seeing.

But you built a new way of feeling/thinking/seeing. Try and remember what that new way was built on. Refresh it in your mind, each of the different ingredients and you'll remember and find yourself there again instead.

It's very easy to have the fear "it's back" and for it itself to elevate anxiety levels and create a self fulfilling prophecy when all you really did was start fearing and worrying about something again.

I found it helped, when feeling better, to write down the ingredients I felt it was built on so i could find my way back when I numbed out etc.
Record the little breakthroughs you had etc.

[Jboase]

Thank you for your reply I appreciate it!

Your technique makes a lot of sense, I can see how important it is to keep a positive way of thinking during a setback and to bring up the breakthroughs I've had in the last few months.

Thanks again