I have never been told it has to get worse first. Ive always been asked what I was doing so that it wasn't getting worse. And that I can take care of it at any point not when its at its worst because at its worst is usually when people end up dead because they are too far gone to see the problems. Ive also been told anxiety isn't like an adiction - its not something people take on, want or need so unlike adictions you don't have to get worse to get better all it takes is monitoring your feelings and taking care of yourself when the symptoms start increasing, sometimes anxiety comes with other mental disorders that are chemical imbalance problems so medication also helps. A person most times recognizes right away when they cant sit still or are constantly worrying and what do they do? They get up and do something different or they try to find a solution to the problem they are worrying about, or they talk to their doctor for possible meds - thats not waiting for it to get worse - thats taking care of the situation and they aren't at rock bottom when t hey do these things.

Thats one of the reasons I took depression / anxiety management classes so that I could recognize more of my symptoms and learn better ways to take care of it then cutting and so on.