How Come I’m Not Feeling Any Better?

Video Transcript

I’ve been working on my recovery for just over a month. How come I’m not feeling any better?

Anxiety symptoms are symptoms of stress. They are called anxiety symptoms because anxious behavior is the primary source of the stress that causes hyperstimulation (chronic stress) and symptoms.

Because hyperstimulation can affect the body in many ways, including nervous system excitation and dysregulation, homeostatic dysregulation, and hormonal dysregulation, it can take a long time to recover, and much longer than most people expect.

Recovery Support members can read the section “Hyperstimulation And Its Effects” in Chapter 14 for more information about the many ways hyperstimulation can affect the body.

Recovery Support members can also read the article “Hyperstimulation Recovery Guidelines” in Chapter 14 to estimate of how long it can take to recover from the many degrees of hyperstimulation.

Overall, there are three main reasons why a person won’t feel better after one month of recovery work.

1. Not enough time for the body to recover from the effects of hyperstimulation

As mentioned, once the body becomes hyperstimulated, it can take a long time to recover despite faithfully practicing your recovery strategies. Hyperstimulation changes the body in many ways, and these changes need the right environment and sufficient time to reverse.

Depending on the degree of hyperstimulation, it can take much longer than one month to see the reversal necessary to feel better.

For instance, recovering from even mild degree hyperstimulation can take months, not just one month. Higher degrees of hyperstimulation can take much longer.

Again, Recovery Support members can read the section “Hyperstimulation And Its Effects” in Chapter 14 for more information about the many ways hyperstimulation can affect the body and “Hyperstimulation Recovery Guidelines” for estimated timelines on recovery expectations.

2. Not faithfully practicing your recovery strategies

Recovering from hyperstimulation requires giving the body what it needs and sufficient time to reverse the negative changes caused by hyperstimulation. Not providing that environment can prevent recovery.
 
If you aren’t faithfully practicing the recovery strategies required to recover, expecting the body to recover so you can feel better is unrealistic.

Not faithfully practicing anxiety and hyperstimulation recovery strategies is a common reason not to see progress.

3. Unaddressed underlying factors

Unaddressed underlying factors that cause issues with anxiety are one of the most common reasons why people don’t see recovery progress, especially over the long term.

Since anxious behavior stresses the body, and stress can stall recovery, unaddressed underlying factors can keep the body stressed, hyperstimulated, and symptomatic despite your physical recovery efforts.

If you believe your progress is stalled, this is an area that must be explored.

Working with an experienced therapist is the most effective way to address anxiety’s underlying factors.

Any combination of the above factors could make your recovery seem stalled. Working with an experienced therapist can provide clarity and guidance on this issue.