Quick answer
Because recovery is nonlinear (progress arrives as a downtrending zigzag), invisible from inside (you compare to yesterday, not three months ago), and back-loaded (the system unlearns fear slower than it learned it). Feeling slow is close to universal — and the feeling is a worse historian than a simple log.
The shape of the curve
Fear learning is fast and stingy by design — one bad supermarket panic can install avoidance for years — while safety learning is slow and generous only with repetition: the alarm system demands many uneventful exposures before downgrading a threat. So recovery's native shape is a jagged decline: better weeks, flare weeks, plateaus where consolidation happens invisibly, then sudden drops. Measured monthly it's clearly working; sampled daily it feels like weather. The plateau phases deserve special defense: they're where new learning stabilizes, and they're exactly where people conclude failure and quit — usually a few weeks before the next drop.
The perception problem
Three biases slow the felt clock. Recency: you compare today to yesterday (noise) instead of to baseline (signal) — the person who no longer checks their pulse forgets they ever did, and normality annexes each gain instantly, leaving only the remaining symptoms visible. Negativity: flare days are memorable; boring recovered days aren't, so memory's sample is skewed toward the worst. And effort-accounting: recovery costs daily work whose results arrive on delay, violating every instinct about fair exchange. The antidote is boring and decisive: a daily 0–10 log reviewed monthly. Nearly everyone who keeps one discovers they're further along than they felt.
Working with a slow system
Set horizons that match the biology: judge nothing weekly; review monthly; expect meaningful functional change over one-to-three months of dosed treatment, continuing improvement after. Mark milestones deliberately — the first uneventful highway drive, the week without checking — because unmarked wins vanish into the new normal. Beware the slowness story ('too slow = not working = I'm the exception'), which is anxiety recruiting impatience; flat trends over 8–12 dosed weeks warrant plan adjustments, but felt slowness alone warrants only better measurement. And keep perspective on the trade: months of retraining against years of symptoms — slow is still, by a wide margin, the fastest thing available.
A note on getting help
Everyone's anxiety has its own history, so treatment is not one-size-fits-all. A licensed therapist or your family doctor can help you map options to your situation. If cost or access is a barrier, group programs, online therapy, and structured self-help based on CBT are all legitimate starting points.
This article is for general information only and is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified health professional about your situation. If you are in crisis, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line immediately.