What To Do When Anxiety Comes Back

What do you actually do when anxiety comes back after you thought you'd put it behind you? In this episode I talk about why recovery was never a straight line to zero, and why I measured my own recovery by "widening the gaps" between panic attacks instead. I get into why a single anxious moment usually isn't the "setback" you think it is (and what a real setback actually is), the science of why anxiety can resurface even years later, and a story from a trip well into my recovery when panic showed up at the worst possible moment. Plus the exact response that keeps a hard day from snowballing, and why taking care of your basics is maintenance, not a safety behavior. If you've ever thought "I'm right back where I started," this one's for you!SOURCES:-Reinstatement of extinguished fear by an unextinguished conditional stimulus. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3343277/-Enhancing Inhibitory Learning: The Utility of Variability in Exposure. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6884337/ (Why practicing across varied situations helps the new learning generalize and stick.)-Delayed Extinction Attenuates Conditioned Fear Renewal and Spontaneous Recovery in Humans. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2749460/ (Repeated, spaced practice reduces the return of fear over time.) FREE Fear to Freedom Guide: https://the18minutes.com/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the18minutesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the18minutes/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the18minutesEmail: [email protected]