Therapy and Meds Aren't Going to Cure Your Anxiety
- Janna Ross
- Jul 28
- 4 min read
This one may come as a tough love smackaroo to the face or this may be old news to you.
If you're in therapy and/or taking medication because you're convinced it's going to make your anxiety go away forever, you're going to be very disappointed.
You're also missing out if you think those are the only two things you need to do to manage your anxiety. (For real you SHOULD feel the FOMO in this case 😉)
I know this from my own experience with therapy.
I know this from talking to people who have done both and STILL struggle with anxiety.
No, I'm not a therapist and by all means take this to your therapist and see if they tell you something different. I dare you.
I think overall we know that therapy and meds aren't going to cure anxiety, though. Because here's the sucky truth:
Anxiety and stress are a normal part of life. They're never going to go away 100%. The only control you have is over yourself and your resilience.
Whether this is news to you or not it's important to know that there are TONS of tools out there to help you handle anxiety and stress better. There's no ONE thing that is going to completely fix it for you, but there are a lot of things that can reduce its impact on you so that you can live your life feeling calmer and in control.
What's important is knowing what's contributing to your anxiety in the first place.
By this I mean the things that are contributing to your anxiety in addition to root causes, such as trauma, which should definitely be discussed with a therapist. Understanding how trauma and life experiences contribute to my own struggle with anxiety has helped me know myself better AND know what tools and lifestyle behaviors will help me the most.
Yup. Lifestyle behaviors actually have a huge impact on your resilience and how well you handle and recover from anxiety and stress.
For example, several years ago a therapist had me track my sleep and caffeine intake which helped me see just how much caffeine I was drinking and how much NOT sleeping I was doing. Not that I couldn't tell sleep was lacking, but looking at data just hits a little different. The obvious conclusion was I needed to sleep more and reduce caffeine. Unfortunately, I wasn't given a whole lot of guidance on how to actually get myself to do that- but that's a story for another day (and one of the things I help my clients with inside the SNAP Method).
Here's the cycle I was on that I bet you can relate to: crap sleep ➡️ caffeine + quick food ➡️ energy crashes ➡️ more caffeine + staying up late ➡️ crap sleep
While I didn't actively work on this for some time (I apparently had to get some more panic attacks and break downs under my belt first) I at least was aware of it.
That's just one example of how a couple of different things were making my anxiety worse, not to mention all the little things happening within those two main things. And it was my own fault.
Here are some more common things that make anxiety worse that you do actually have at least some control over:
Getting poor sleep due to staying up too late for a variety of reasons
Poor sleep quality from drinking too much caffeine (even if you can still fall asleep like normal)
Feeling jittery and anxious from drinking too much caffeine (even worse if you haven't eaten)
Feeling anxious and irritable from tanking blood sugar because of skipping meals or relying on snacky foods
Not getting enough exercise
Not taking time for self-care practices to recover from anxiety and stress
Having shitty, unhelpful self-talk that you'd never dare say to someone you love
This list could get really long, but I bet there are at least 1 or 2 of them that fit you to a T. If the crap sleep, too much caffeine cycle didn't already.
I want to give you some tips you can put in place right now to help with the above things so here are a few blogs that will do just that:
We generally KNOW that we need to do certain things... it's the HOW of making it happen. I struggled with this for a long time and because of that I've been able to create a method to help you save some time and get your calm and sanity back quicker. This is why I created my SNAP Method program and below is a brief rundown of how exactly it can help you:
Phase 1: Sleep- because sleep is the foundation of your overall wellness and will help you improve in all the other areas. Plus, its positive impacts on reducing anxiety and stress are fantastic!
Phase 2: Nutrition- because there's no thriving on the blood sugar roller coaster. Learning how to eat in a way that satisfies your stomach and supports your sanity is key to managing anxiety and stress.
Phase 3: Activity- because our bodies NEED to move- especially when we have a bunch of nervous energy that needs out. This is just one form of nervous system regulation whether it's walking, yoga, or lifting.
Phase 4: Personal self-care- because every time we make time for our needs- whether it's a few breaths or a long weekend retreat- we become more resilient against life's inevitable stressors.
ALL of these phases will build up your resilience so that you won't get rattled so easily by anxiety and stress. And when you do get tipped over the edge, and you will, it won't be as intense and you'll recover from it faster.
Sound like something you need? Email me at janna@jl-wellness.com and let's talk about how the SNAP Method could be the perfect fit for you!
Like I said above, there are tons of tools to help you become more resilient against anxiety and stress, so make sure to subscribe so you won't miss my new posts as they come out talking all about these tools!
