Spiraling During Withdrawal?

Let’s talk about what it means to spiral — not metaphorically, but in the very real, lived experience of withdrawal. Spiraling is when fear builds on fear. When a symptom arises, your thoughts latch onto it, your body tightens, and suddenly you’re not reacting to reality — you’re reacting to the worst-case interpretation of it. You feel yourself getting pulled down and away from center, and it’s like you can’t stop it. That’s not just mental. That’s neurological. That’s the Bear.

The Bear is your survival system. And during withdrawal, especially when the nervous system is over-sensitized, the Bear becomes reactive. He starts connecting things that aren’t connected. A racing heart becomes a sign of doom. A wave of nausea becomes a signal that you’re regressing. A single thought becomes a judgment, then a sentence, then a whole identity collapse. It can feel impossible to stop once it starts, and trying to force your way out of it usually makes it worse.

That’s because spiraling is a loop: fear → reaction → interpretation → more fear.

The more you fight it, the more the Bear feels under threat. And the Bear doesn't speak logic. He doesn't care about reassurance, timelines, or statistics. He reads your internal state — and if you're tense, panicked, and bracing, he takes that as a sign that the danger is real. So the loop continues, not because you're weak, but because you're wired to survive.

Here’s what helps: First, recognize the spiral for what it is. Label it. “This is the Bear. He’s scared.” That alone creates just enough space to soften your identification with it. From there, it's about changing your relationship with fear. Not fighting it. Not trying to fix it. But allowing it to move through. Try to drop into the body. Slow the breath. Soften your grip. Do something simple and physical — a warm shower, music you love, walking outside, and feeling the sun. Nothing fancy. Just a signal to your system that you're not under attack.

What doesn’t help is overthinking it. Or constantly scanning your body. Or trying to “figure it out” while in the spiral. That’s how we feed it. The key is to return, not to safety in the world, but to safety in your response to the moment. You don't need to be fearless. You just need to be steady enough to ride it out without making it worse. And if you can do that — even imperfectly — you're doing something powerful: you're teaching your nervous system a new way to respond.

So the next time the spiral starts, don’t panic. You’re not back at square one. You’re not broken. You’re just being invited to practice something deeper: stillness in the storm. A calm presence in the noise. And that practice, over time, rewires everything.

Keep going, – Coach Powers