One of the most distressing experiences in trauma recovery is the moment people realise they feel worse after starting to heal.
Symptoms intensify.
Emotions surface.
The body feels less predictable.
Many people assume this means something has gone wrong.
They ask:
“Why am I struggling more now?”
“Did I make a mistake by opening this up?”
“Is this actually helping?”
But feeling worse during healing is not uncommon.
And it is not a sign of failure.
As Reshie explains in the conversation:
“When the system starts to feel safer, it finally allows what was held back to come forward.”
Healing Changes the Nervous System’s Strategy
Trauma symptoms exist for a reason.
They helped the nervous system survive by containing, suppressing, or managing overwhelming experience.
When healing begins, the system starts to shift its strategy.
As Reshie puts it:
“Symptoms don’t disappear first. Control does.”
As rigid defences soften, sensations and emotions that were previously managed through tension, dissociation, or hypervigilance can re-emerge.
This transition phase often feels worse before it feels better.
Why Increased Awareness Can Feel Overwhelming
Many people experience an increase in internal awareness during healing.
They notice:
- Body sensations more clearly
- Emotional shifts more quickly
- Triggers earlier than before
This can feel destabilising.
As Reshie explains:
“You’re not more broken. You’re more aware.”
This stage often overlaps with expanding the window of tolerance. As the nervous system allows more experience into awareness, intensity may temporarily increase before regulation catches up.
Hyperarousal Often Peaks During Early Healing
One of the most common symptoms to spike during healing is hyperarousal.
Sleep becomes lighter.
The body feels restless.
Thoughts speed up.
These patterns are explored further in why hyperarousal after trauma is so common, where heightened activation is understood as a system adjusting to new levels of safety.
As Reshie explains:
“A system that’s been braced for years doesn’t relax all at once.”
Temporary increases in hyperarousal often mean the system is renegotiating threat, not that it is regressing.
Why Removing Symptoms Is Not the Same as Healing
Many people expect healing to look like symptom reduction from day one.
But trauma recovery is not symptom-first.
As Reshie explains in the conversation:
“Healing isn’t about removing symptoms. It’s about changing the conditions that created them.”
This is why why eliminating triggers doesn’t work in trauma recovery is such a crucial concept. When symptoms are suppressed rather than understood, the nervous system often compensates elsewhere.
Healing works by reorganising the system, not by silencing signals.
Why Old Patterns Resurface Before They Resolve
Another confusing part of healing is the return of old patterns.
People may notice:
- Familiar reactions resurfacing
- Childhood dynamics re-emerging
- Emotions that feel “out of proportion”
This does not mean healing is failing.
As Reshie explains:
“The system brings forward what’s ready to be integrated.”
This process often connects with childhood trauma triggers in adulthood, where earlier adaptations become visible only when the system feels stable enough to examine them.
Why Healing Requires a Period of Instability
Healing involves reorganisation.
Any system that reorganises goes through instability before it settles into a new pattern.
As Reshie puts it:
“You can’t change how a system works without temporarily disturbing it.”
This is why trauma recovery often includes phases of:
- Increased emotion
- Fatigue
- Confusion
- Sensitivity
These phases are not the destination. They are the transition.
How to Tell the Difference Between Healing and Harm
A key question many people ask is:
“How do I know if this is healing or too much?”
Healing-related discomfort:
- Fluctuates rather than escalates endlessly
- Comes with increased awareness
- Responds to pacing and regulation
- Slowly leads to more capacity
Harmful overwhelm:
- Intensifies without relief
- Leads to shutdown or collapse
- Removes choice and agency
Understanding diagnosis and treatment of psychological trauma can help clarify this distinction and guide appropriate pacing.
Why Staying With the Process Matters
Healing does not reward endurance.
It rewards responsiveness.
As Reshie explains:
“The system doesn’t need you to push. It needs you to listen.”
When healing feels worse, it often means the nervous system is doing something new. With proper pacing, safety, and support, this phase passes and gives way to greater stability.
Over time, people notice:
- Faster recovery after stress
- Less intensity in reactions
- More trust in their internal signals
That is when healing begins to feel better.
Watch the Full Conversation
This article is drawn from the same in-depth conversation between Reshie and Katrina, where they explore why healing can feel worse before it feels better, and how understanding this phase prevents unnecessary fear or self-blame.
To hear these ideas explained with clinical clarity and lived experience, watch the full conversation below.