The purpose of undergoing certain diagnostic tests is so that any underlying medical problems can be ruled out as a cause for symptoms being discussed on the forum. This distinction in necessary to prevent inadvertent reliance upon the internet as a potential source for actual medical diagnosis.

The need by persons to vigilantly seek diagnostic testing based upon their own beliefs to the contrary of their doctor actually constitutes difficulty and although it provides brief reassurance, is not recommended here and is discussed at length. Clinical tests must remain strictly driven by the doctor's need for clarification rather than the patient. In some instances where the compulsive need by the patient to seek testing is resistant to insight, they must be permitted to some degree to continue until such point that the irrational nature of their pursuit is recognized. In other words, the ability to forge insight sometimes arises at the cost of continued trial until the point is reached where the patient is less resistant or defiant to introspection of their error.  

Psychological counseling is always recommended as an adjunct to medical treatment in persons who demonstrate awareness of a problem and a strong desire to correct it, but yet are experiencing difficulty making progress. It is also recommended in any case where psychotropic medications are being prescribed, with the goal of preventing maintenance of the problem and a state of dependency rather than the briefest distance to a curative outcome. Psychological counseling is not a universal requirement and aside from the instances mentioned above, is not very beneficial.

Realize that the circumstances highlighted represent but one aspect of helping patients find their way back to normality and does not constitute resolution of the actual root cause, but merely steps in the right direction. The basis for the true problem exists in both a biologically instinctive context and an emotional one and the ability to successfully explore these influences must follow a sort of disentanglement, so to speak, from the collective self-imposed measures taken by persons attempting to find the answer. In other words, insight must first be established wherein individuals both acknowledge and accept that the perceptions formerly dictating their lives are inaccurate and flawed, a premise far easier said than done.

So in answer to the burning question, it only "goes on and on" for the time necessary for the requisite insight to be adopted. What we're speaking about here is an actual change in one's core concepts in dealing with life and in the case of most people, those concepts are buried within years of practicing life in strict accordance to their doctrine, albeit a troublesome path, to the extent that more appropriate and healthy patterns are extinguished from consideration for a variety of reasons.

Lastly, anxiety is a state of mind and not a disease. It is established by patterns which feel natural due to chronicity but nevertheless exist as problematic and unwanted. It is the invocation of an approach to life which extends beyond the normal reaches of actual influence, hence the often paralyzing helplessness of the inability to produce change through apprehension.

For one to "wonder where it will all end" should represent a rather glowing question of great relevance with a response and opportunity here to offer that there is nothing guiding such a destiny except matters which are merely perceived to be steering the course.

Best regards,

Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)