Yes, the old pattern "returns" but next time may be 3-1/2 days returning or last only 1/2 as long before you realize and come out of it, etc. It just takes a long long time! We didn't get this way in a moment. I think that's why diets don't work, we gain 10-20 pounds in 3 months to a year but expect to lose it in two weeks or something! Learning a new habit or breaking one takes 21 days when you practice it faithfully! It's going to take longer the deeper the "groove" our brain has cut doing the same thing over and over.

If you use the same ski tracks down a mountain it gets all hard, compact, and slippery; not good skiing at all. The only way to fix that is to find a new/different way down the mountain. There's never just one way but we get "use to" the old ways. But if you jolt your mind out of it (by remembering this post/conversation is one way) it will learn to do things differently.

Now, next time you start to freak on your mother you'll suddenly remember this post and that will help you stop sooner :-) You can come freak on me instead because you had to stop yourself from freaking on your mother