(PROGRAM NOTE: If you’re looking for episode 277 of the podcast featuring Dr. Terri Bacow discussion anxiety and neurodivergence, that episode is here. Apologies for saying the wrong URL in the podcast!)

Anxiety and the recovery process do not exist in a vacuum. You are an entire person, and all the parts of you come into this process. Holistic is not a word you hear me use often, but it is a word we need to acknowledge because when dealing with chronic/disordered anxiety and the recovery process, your background, experiences, beliefs, and views of yourself and the world will enter the picture in various ways.

A holistic view of anxiety and recovery …

Means that we should not look at chronic or disordered anxiety – or the recovery process – as its own thing that exists apart from the rest of you and the rest of your life. Anxiety is not something that gets bolted on to your life, and the recovery process not about un-bolting it, dropping it, and going on your merry way.

This does not mean that recovery is based on digging for emotions, healing hidden pain, finding trauma, or otherwise being overly introspective or reflective. We are still dealing with the need to go toward what you fear to build a new relationship with and reaction to anxiety. The mechanics do not change, but they are certainly influenced by the many facets of who you are.

Your background, experiences, beliefs, views about yourself and the world, culture, knowledge, skills, and other factors all enter into the picture. These things are part of who you are as a whole person. So how does this enter into the anxiety and recovery equation?

The things that make you uniquely you will…

• influence how you conceptualize your anxiety
• influence how you embrace and approach the recovery process.
• influence the parts of recovery you “get” and the parts you may need to adjust here and there.
• cause you to confront emotions, situations, and challenges that aren’t always about anxiety, but may be indicative of other parts of you and other parts of your life.

Forgetting this – forgetting that anxiety and recovery do not exist in a vacuum – can lead you into a trap where you’re judging yourself negatively, giving up, or seeing your situation as hopeless when you don’t have to see it that way.

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This post was previously published on The Anxious Truth.

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