When recovering from the feelings of anxiety and panic attacks, there are often setbacks along the way.
If you monitor what is happening to you carefully and take some simple precautions, you can overcome these setbacks.
But why is it that setbacks happen? The recovery process doesn't necessarily have a clear beginning, middle and end.
It's often a case of taking three steps forward and one step back.
As with everything in life, there could be a number of different reasons why setbacks happen.
Each individual will have their own special circumstances which determine why their particular setbacks take place.
Some of the reasons, in no particular order, why people have set backs are:

• Something could have jogged the memory and the brain interpreted this as a threat, causing the new feeling of anxiety.
  
• Perhaps something new was tried and the brain became overwhelmed with the new sensations and again detected a threat.
  
• It could be that a different anxiety from the ones felt before was encountered and the brain did not know how to cope, with the same result as above.
  

The first thing to remember about setbacks is that they almost always happen and you are not to blame.
It is not a failure.
Often it's a good time to assess what you've achieved so far and then to work out how to move on.
People in all walks of life learn from their setbacks and move on with an even greater sense of purpose.
One of the ways in which you can avoid too many setbacks is to set yourself a series of small goals to achieve the large goal.
So when you have a setback, take the goal that has been decided on and see if you can break it down into a number of smaller goals to achieve the same final result.
For example: If your big goal was to be able to walk to the corner shop and back by the end of the month.
Instead of trying that every day and perhaps not getting there, why not set up the following smaller goals.
Day one; walk to the end of your drive or to the pavement outside where you live, wait there while you count to ten and then walk back inside.
Day two; walk to the same place as on day one, but now stop until you count to 15 and walk back.
Day three; walk to the same place again, stop for a count of 15 and then walk really slowly back.
Day four; walk out onto the road and go to next door's gate and then walk slowly back.
And so on until by the end of the month you'll have walked to the corner shop and back.
You may even achieve your big goal sooner than you thought.
Make up your own steps and if you achieve the first ones easily and straightaway, you can change your daily goals as you carry on.
Or you could change them to smaller even less demanding goals that you can achieve.
In this way you will be achieving a lot of goals with only a few small setbacks, rather than having a setback every day with a much larger goal.
You'll still achieve your big goal and be a lot happier on the way.
Make sure you can recognize the signs which show a setback may be happening.
There are a number of signs that can warn of a return to feelings of anxiety.
If you find that there is a change in your behavior, it may mean you need to seek more help.
Changes in your behavior that may signal a setback is on the way might include:

• Staying in bed longer
• Not eating regularly or healthily
• Not being able to sleep or concentrate properly
• Feeling stressed and wanting to spend more time alone
• Or tending to be more tearful.
  

If you can think back to when you first started having anxiety feelings and panic attacks, try to remember the sort of symptoms you were showing then.
If you can see those symptoms returning it will give you a clue that you need to get more help to keep you from suffering a setback.
Overcoming setbacks can be difficult.
If you have a relapse, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you will never feel well again.
But there are ways to move through this stage and back to recovery.