Misdiagnosis and infinite regression

This is the first time for, truthfully I cannot remember how long, that I have posted two days in a row.  I have been slightly buoyed by yesterday’s problem solving exercises despite my mind continuing to attempt to persuade me that I have not problem solved anything at all and have probably missed something terribly important.  Therefore, I better stand by as the whole thing is about to come tumbling down upon me!

I was privileged, yesterday, to spend some time with a colleague whom I met for the first time and whom I sense will become a new and true friend; he has already become a confidant.  We spoke together about what I would paraphrase as the malfunction of the mind which fails to accept its own rational interpretation or, indeed, the advice of those better informed and whose perspective is more accurately and appropriately tuned than our own.  He was significantly more succinct then me and used the word 'misdiagnosis'.  By that he meant, I think, that even when we see our anxieties for what they are - nothing to be stressed about and, for the most part, unfounded - we still feel we may have missed something, or that those who advise us may actually have got it wrong.

There is, I think, a medical analogy to be made here - just as Doctors do sometimes misdiagnose a patient and tell them they are in good health when, in fact, they are quite unwell.  So do those of us who continue to struggle with anxiety believe that even when we have successfully problem solved a perceived issue, managed to divert negative automatic thoughts and produce a more rational and coherent contrary argument, we have ourselves engaged in a process of misdiagnosis and have actually, in simple terms, not problem solved anything but missed the point completely.

What can I say - rationally I can see that this is the worst kind of infinite regression.  My mind keeps telling me it isn't.  My hope and my prayer will continue to be simply this - that in time my mind will acquiesce and accept the overwhelming evidence that urges me not to be anxious.  For the time being I have to report honestly that I continue to believe in misdiagnosis and my foray into the landscape of infinite regression continues on an (almost) daily basis.  However, at least it is only almost every day.  Therein lies a nugget of hope!