Why Anxiety Can Return After Feeling Better | Anxiety Support in Ely

One of the most unsettling experiences is when anxiety returns after you had started feeling better. You start to feel better and think things are going to keep improving… and then anxiety seems to return.

Many people describe feeling confused or discouraged when this happens. Thoughts such as ‘I thought I was past this’ or ‘Does this mean nothing has really changed?’ are very common. You start to worry about your anxiety coming back and that you will feel as bad as you used to.

The thing to keep in mind is that you definitely have the capability to feel calm, confident and in control. Anxiety is where negative thoughts and feelings start, and then they grow from worry and repetition. You already know how to take back control and feel better. So it is very possible to nip any little bits of anxiety, the sort of thing that everyone gets now and again, in the bud so that it doesn’t take over.

In my work with anxiety clients in Ely and the surrounding Cambridgeshire area, this fear of anxiety returning often causes more distress than the symptoms themselves.

Why anxiety doesn’t fade in a straight line

Anxiety rarely improves in a neat, linear way. Instead, it tends to settle gradually, with periods of calm followed by occasional moments of anxiety.

This is because anxiety is closely linked to the nervous system, not just thoughts. Even when things are improving, the nervous system may still be learning that it’s safe to relax.

Rather than your anxiety being all consuming, you start to feel better more of the time and more equipped to deal with unwanted thoughts and feelings. And, of course, anxiety is a normal human emotion that everyone experiences from time to time.

Changes in routine, tiredness, stress, illness, or noticing an old anxious physical sensation can briefly trigger anxious responses again after you have been feeling better. This doesn’t mean progress has been lost. And it doesn’t have to be more than temporary.

A wobble doesn’t erase progress

When anxiety returns after a period of improvement, it’s easy to assume you’re ‘back to square one’ or that nothing will ever work for you. In reality, the underlying positive changes are still there.

Often, when anxiety returns after feeling better, what’s different now is that:

• the anxiety feels more familiar
• you notice the contrast from feeling better to anxious more clearly
• reactions are less intense or shorter-lived
• recovery happens more quickly

These fluctuations are part of the nervous system re-calibrating, not a sign of failure, weakness or a return to overwhelm.

Why fear of anxiety keeps the cycle going

A common reason anxiety lingers is the fear of anxiety itself.

When symptoms reappear, people often start monitoring their body or thoughts closely, worrying about whether anxiety is ‘coming back’ properly. This constant checking can keep the nervous system on alert.

You can start to worry about feeling anxious. That makes you tense and on edge and the unwanted thoughts and feelings start to get more time, focus and attention.

Understanding that ups and downs are normal can be used for self reassurance and can reduce the urge to analyse or fight every sensation.

When you break anxiety down into unwanted thoughts, feelings and behaviours it becomes more manageable to change things. You can calm a feeling, interrupt a thought and do things differently to support feeling better.

Letting the nervous system settle again

Anxiety after feeling better can create worry and frustration.

Rather than trying to eliminate anxiety completely, it can help to focus on calming your thoughts and allowing the body to feel safe enough to settle.

We are all designed to experience anxiety when it is reasonable or appropriate to do so. However, problematic and irrational anxiety can be tackled and you can feel better again.

As baseline tension reduces, anxious responses usually ease. Over time, confidence grows – not because anxiety never appears, but because it no longer feels overwhelming or frightening. You have learnt how to manage your own thoughts, feelings and emotions effectively.

If you’d like a clearer explanation of how anxiety affects both mind and body, you may find this helpful:
👉 Understanding anxiety in Ely

And if anxiety, or anxiety returning after improvement, feels unsettling or hard to manage alone, one-to-one support can help you:
👉 Anxiety therapy and hypnotherapy in Ely

With the right support, approach and strategies, you can calm anxiety, start feeling more and more calm, confident and in control – and you can learn how to stay feeling better inot the future.

To your health and happiness,

Dan Regan

Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely and Newmarket

Could you use some help with anxiety in Ely, Newmarket or Online? Struggling with anxiety, stress, worry and fear and need some help? Contact me to book your Free Anxiety Consultation: Contact Dan

Find out what hundreds of other people have said after their anxiety hypnotherapy sessions in Ely with Dan: Hypnotherapy Testimonials

And check out these popular and powerful hypnosis downloads that can start helping you right away with anxiety, confidence and more: Hypnosis Downloads