The cured

[uru]

Anyone out there feel completely cured? (I know, you wouldn't be posting if you were).

Or at least cured for long periods of time?

Do you have any insight into what helped you get better?

[Wildwood]

Hey

I felt completely cured without any symptoms for several months or even years. I experienced setbacks while having traumatic events happening in my life, but with talk therapy or medication, I always got better. This is what I always tell myself when I am in a low mood again: this too shall pass, again.

And it's true that many cured people don't show up in forums, so we get a very distorted view on how to cope with anxiety and the possible positive outcomes.

[uru]

So how did you do it?

[Humly]

I have to agree that if you were completely cured I don't think you would be hanging around sites like this. No offence meant as this has been a lifeline for me. When I am feeling good the last thing I want to do is remind myself of how horrible things can be. That's very selfish, I know.

I wish I knew what the answer was. I have had many great months with no problems and many not so good months as well. For me, because i worry about specific situations and sometimes symptoms, it was just a matter of time passing and either the symptoms going away or the feared problem never occurring. However, during the "wait" I would suffer terribly.

Just about to embark on therapy so hopefully I will get help in coping better.

[Carnation]

Cured???? Anything can reoccur. But, personally, I would like to say that I am about 80% improved to what I was 2 years ago.
During a setback, I will probably be around 50-60% and the more trauma and stress in your Life will determine the state of your health.
Some people choose to opt out of normal life indefinitely, others want to get back in to the rat-race again and the rest seem to adapt a 'New way of Life' that they feel reasonably safe with. (I would probably put myself in the last category).
A lot of Anxiety sufferers have had an amalgamation of trauma or stress in their lives over the years and recovery could take longer for them, especially if it is something that is deep in-bedded and too emotionally disturbing to release.
There are a lot of strong and intelligent people on here that question why this has happened to them? Well, sometimes being strong is not so good when you over-ride your emotions to cope with a traumatic experience.
This is one of the reasons we seek Therapy amongst other things.
So, in answer to your question.
Yes, we can, but it depends on the person and their situation.
The best thing is never to rush recovery or push ourselves too hard back in to Society.

[apm]

After my last episode, I was completely cured, by Citalopram. I came off them in the summer, but it was too soon (about 9 months on). Stress at work has kicked off the anxiety again- I'm 11 days into the Citalopram, so waiting for the side effects to calm down and the positive effects to kick in. More CBT for me this time.