As one of SIRPA's Ambassadors for Fatigue, this is a personal story from my lived experience. There are chapters of my life I can still feel in my body if I close my eyes - not because the symptoms are still here, but because the emotional imprint of those years was so deep and so consuming that it reshaped the way I understood myself.

The short answer is yes. Anxiety is deeply neuroplastic. In other words, the brain circuits that create and maintain anxiety are not fixed; they can change, soften, reorganise, and settle through new experiences, learning, and intentional practices. Anxiety isn’t a personal flaw or a permanent identity; it’s a pattern the brain has learned over time - which means it’s also a pattern the brain can unlearn.

Every so often someone reaches out to me from a place so raw, so overwhelmed, that even getting the words out feels like a final act of strength. Recently, a client shared something with me that reflects what many people quietly endure: “I’m in despair. No medication seems to work. I’ve tried several now and all I get is more symptoms. I feel like I’m hanging on by a thread.”