The Healing Process Isn’t Linear And That’s Okay

Why Setbacks in Therapy and Mental Health Recovery Are Normal

Feeling stuck in your healing journey? Think you're backsliding in therapy or depression recovery? You're not alone and you're not failing. In this blog, I explain why healing is not linear, how to cope with setbacks, and what actually helps during slow progress.

Healing Isn’t a Straight Line: It’s a Winding Path

When you start therapy or commit to improving your mental health, you might expect steady progress. You might believe, “If I keep doing the work, I’ll keep feeling better.” And for a while, that may be true.

But then, without warning, you hit a wall. The depression creeps back. Anxiety spikes. Old habits return.

And suddenly, you're asking yourself:

• “Why do I feel like I’m going backwards?”

• “Is therapy even working?”

• “What’s wrong with me?”

Let’s clear this up:

Setbacks in healing are not failures. They're part of the process.

Why the Healing Process Isn’t Linear

Mental health recovery involves more than positive thinking or good habits. It includes:

• Changing deeply ingrained thought patterns

• Healing trauma stored in the nervous system

• Navigating real-life triggers

• Rewiring how the brain responds to stress, sadness, or fear

These changes take time. And they don’t follow a straight, upward path.Therapy progress often looks like progress → pause → dip → insight → progress again. That’s normal.

Common Reasons for Therapy Setbacks

Wondering why you feel stuck again after making progress in therapy or depression recovery? Here are a few possibilities:

1. Deeper Emotional Work Unfolding

Often, therapy begins with surface-level issues. As trust builds, deeper emotional pain may surface. This can feel like regression, but it’s actually forward movement into meaningful healing.

2. Old Habits Triggered by Stress

Life stressors (work, family, relationships) can re-activate old thought patterns. You're not "going back," your brain is simply returning to familiar coping mechanisms under pressure.

3. The Nervous System Needs Time

Healing trauma or chronic depression means retraining your body to feel safe. This process often comes with ups and downs as your system recalibrates.

What to Do When Therapy or Healing Feels Stuck

1. Acknowledge Your Progress

Recovery isn't only measured by how good you feel—it's measured by your capacity to keep showing up, even when it's hard.

Look for signs of growth like:

• Reacting more calmly than you used to

• Taking breaks instead of pushing through

• Reaching out for help sooner

2. Adjust Expectations

Let go of the belief that healing has to be fast or linear. Setbacks aren't the opposite of progress, they're evidence of change happening beneath the surface.

3. Talk About It with Your Counsellor

Bringing your frustration or self-doubt into session is valuable. It opens up deeper work and allows your therapist to meet you where you are.

4. Practice Self-Compassion

Research shows that self-compassion improves resilience and emotional regulation. Speak to yourself as you would to a close friend:

“It’s okay to have hard days. I’m still healing. I haven’t failed.”

Final Thoughts: Healing Takes Time and That’s Okay

Healing isn’t a destination; it’s an ongoing relationship with yourself. There will be days when you feel strong and capable. And there will be days when you’re not sure how to keep going.

Both kinds of days belong. Both are part of your mental health journey.

So the next time you feel stuck in therapy or discouraged in your recovery from depression, anxiety, trauma, or burnout remember this:

You’re not back at the beginning. You’re starting again with more awareness, more experience, and more strength than you had before. Keep going!