Believe it or not there DOES come a point in recovery when you are doing very well – you’re understanding is good, you are feeling less and less fight or flight..
..but .. there is still some ‘lingering doubts’ about your ability to handle an EXTREME surge of fight or flight sensations.
This is the point when ‘setbacks’ are actually VERY beneficial. If you are to REALLY move past you fear ALTOGETHER – you need to go through fight or flight until it really doesn’t hold much fear at all.
There WILL come a point where you will almost look FORWARD to experiences that force you to practice your skills.
Each time you practice you grow in confidence which encourages you to take on more situations.
Setbacks let you see how WELL you know the reality about panic. You may even be free of panic for a month or two and suddenly feel fight or flight out of the blue. If this happens – observe how you respond. If you quickly resort to safety behaviour then you will know that you have more work to do – or you may be pleasantly surprised that you handled it quite well.
Try to see setbacks as perfect times to PRACTICE.