Healing Is Not Linear: Learning to Navigate the Ups and Downs of Ketamine Treatments

On the surface, healing can seem like a linear journey. With each therapy session, you envision taking a step forward and moving closer to a place of peace and clarity.

But the reality is that healing is not linear. There can be notable moments of progress, but also setbacks and times where it feels like we’re standing still. 

Naturally, when old emotions resurface and progress seems undone, it can be discouraging. You might find yourself thinking: Why isn’t this working? What should I be doing differently?

When these types of thoughts surface, remember: healing isn’t always about continued progress. Setbacks are part of the healing journey. When you allow yourself to embrace them, you set yourself up for even deeper growth.

As part of your ketamine therapy journey, we recommend pursuing talk therapy sessions to support your integration efforts. We can help identify therapy providers who may be helpful for your specific needs. 

This is an important part of improving mental health for the long run, especially in conjunction with ketamine treatments, but it comes with both positive ups and sometimes-challenging downs. 

Why Healing Is Not Linear

To heal from the wounds of depression or the ongoing stress of anxiety or other conditions, it helps to explore yourself from different angles. This is a fundamental part of the ketamine therapy experience—and therapy broadly. This process can spark buried memories or bring up difficult emotions. Revisiting certain moments or emotions in your mind can feel like a step backward, but it’s seeing these moments from a new perspective that empowers emotional resilience.

Non-linear therapy progress is also a product of the day-to-day external factors you face. Maybe it’s a busy month at work, or you’re dealing with a family conflict. 

These stressors may leave you feeling more overwhelmed than usual and cause old patterns of thinking to creep back in. The difference now: You’ll have more coping mechanisms to acknowledge and navigate these stresses.

This is why we often encourage talk therapy as an important tool for integration your ketamine therapy treatment experiences into the rest of your life. It’s not a linear process, per se, but rather a journey that mirrors life itself.

Common Challenges During Therapy Treatments

If you’ve experienced setbacks in your healing journey, you’re not alone. Meaningful changes are challenging, and your mental health work is apt to have ebbs and flows. Acknowledging these challenges can help you greet them with more grace and acceptance. 

Such challenges include:

• Feeling like you’ve hit a plateau: A major breakthrough may be followed by a period of what feels like limited progress.

• Feeling overwhelmed by emotional work: Facing buried emotions can leave you raw, tired, and emotionally drained.

• Revisiting painful experiences or bad days: Circling back to familiar struggles can cause you to relieve painful emotions and memories.

What can seem like roadblocks are actually signs of engagement. You’re processing parts of your past that need attention, and healing from that takes time. 

You’re in an ongoing process where you’re gaining the tools to navigate challenges you’ve faced in the past with more self-compassion and resilience.

Research highlights resilience as one of the many beneficial outcomes of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), for example. In one study, CBT interventions were shown to effectively promote resilience in post-intervention, as well as sustained resilience in follow-ups. 

The study results are a nod to how therapy not only provides temporary relief, but supports long-term healing that alters how you handle familiar situations.

Strategies for Navigating These Ups and Downs

This start-stop process can be a source of frustration, and understandably so, and this fact in itself can compound those ups and downs. The good news is there are steps you can take to stay grounded on your mental health journey.

Set Realistic Expectations

When starting ketamine therapy treatments or even sessions with a therapist, you might notice some improvements early on. While acknowledging (and celebrating) this progress, also acknowledge that lasting change will come from digging deeper into your emotions, patterns, and beliefs. Emotional healing requires patience, and growth can happen in the moments when you’re processing trauma, anxiety, and other feelings that can be difficult to digest.

Track Your Progress Over Time

Journaling is a healthy outlet, especially when it comes to your healing journey. One study showed that journaling intervention reduced scores on patient mental health measures (where higher scores reflect more severe mental illness) by 5% on average.

After each therapy session, make it a point to jot down your thoughts, emotions, and reflections. You may find that a challenge that once felt insurmountable weeks ago is now a situation you can handle with ease. That’s a clear sign of growth in your emotional resilience—one that can help offset the inevitable bad days in therapy.

Practice Self-Compassion

How would you approach a friend or family member experiencing therapy setbacks? The answer should mirror how you treat yourself. Show yourself kindness, patience, and understanding when setbacks occur, as non-linear therapy progress is expected.

One way to cultivate self-compassion is by speaking to yourself in a gentle manner. Rather than playing the game of self-blame—”I can’t believe I’m struggling again”—shift the sentiment to one of self-support: “I’m having a hard moment, but I’m learning how to handle it. 

Also, prioritize giving your feelings validation. Instead of pushing away feelings of anxiety or sadness, give yourself permission to lean into these emotions. This will help you move through them versus getting stuck.

Seek Support

Many studies speak to the protective role that social support has on mental health. In one study, social support networks were shown to elevate positive affect—a state of mind rooted in positive emotions like joy and contentment—by reducing perceived stress levels.

Healing is a connected process. Having a trusted support system in your corner reminds you that your feelings are valid and that you’re not alone. When you’re vulnerable and open to receiving this support, you’ll strengthen your emotional resilience.

Support systems can come in many forms. Friends and family can provide great comfort, whether it’s through regular check-ins or simply spending time together without the pressure to talk about mental health. There’s also value in connecting with support groups and peer communities. Hearing from others who have gone through similar experiences offers a sense of belonging and shared understanding. New Pathways Clinic offers a free online monthly support group for its patients the first Wednesday of every month at 4 p.m. Please email [email protected] if you would like to join.

Communicate with Your Provider or Therapist

It’s natural to feel hesitant about voicing concerns to your health care provider or your therapist. But therapists know healing is not linear. The more open you are about your struggles, the more your therapist can help you along your journey—whether it’s a matter of modifying techniques or diving deeper to reveal patterns that need more attention and focus. 

Starting a conversation with your therapist can be as simple as saying “I’ve hit a plateau and I’m not sure where to go from here.” This can open the door to a discussion where you can talk about which techniques have resonated the most, explore topics that you may have unconsciously resisted bringing up, and ask for guidance on managing setbacks.

There are always opportunities to make therapeutic adjustments as you go through the healing process. It could be leveraging new techniques, modifying session schedules, or bringing in other interventions like ketamine therapy to complement the work you’re already doing.

Reframing Therapy Setbacks As Opportunities

Behind every challenge in therapy, there’s something to learn. Setbacks, while discouraging at first, can shed light on old patterns and emotional triggers that impact your mental health. On this path to self-discovery and deeper understanding, you can prepare yourself for continued healing progress and future breakthroughs.

For many people, the biggest moments of insight come after a period of struggle.

Consider the case where you thought you had moved past an unhealthy coping mechanism of withdrawing from loved ones. Suddenly, this coping mechanism resurfaces during a stressful time. When you open up to your therapist about this setback, you may realize that certain thoughts bring up old wounds. Recognizing this, you can work with your therapist to come up with new coping strategies that address the root cause of your struggles.

Embrace the Healing Journey

The next time you feel stuck in the healing journey, ask yourself: “What is this moment teaching me?” 

Instead of seeing setbacks as failures, try to approach them with curiosity and self-compassion. After all, healing is not linear. It’s a journey filled with twists, turns, and moments of growth that may not be apparent right away.

Progress is deeply personal and rarely follows a straight path, but it’s still happening in the background. Even when the road feels uncertain, every challenge is shaping you into a stronger, more self-aware version of yourself. Keep going—your healing is unfolding, one step at a time.