I don't want to make a text wall here, so I'll try to sum up as best I can. 

I was diagnosed in early 2014. I went through DBT, got on the right meds, felt like I'd turned my life around. I'm on a break from therapy with my therapist's blessing, so I can process the changes so far. 

Lately I've been feeling very proud of myself for what I've been able to overcome, and I was beginning to think maybe I was almost recovered. 

Then over the weekend, I realized how far I still have to go. Basically I noticed some behaviors in myself where I'm still seeking external validation and completely obsessing about it, just doing it in a less obvious way. 

It was a rough few hours there. That whole black and white thinking thing. I really believed for awhile there that none of the progress I've made meant anything because I'm still symptomatic. 

Eventually I talked myself down and realized that it isn't that severe, I'm not starting over from the beginning, I'm just picking up from exactly where I was the moment before I realized how symptomatic I still am. 

But it's still discouraging. I really thought I had come so much further (farther?) than I actually have. 

Does anyone have any tips for how to get through this kind of "reality check" funk? Also, is there a way that changes in symptom levels can be measurable, so I have something to refer to and go "see, I really *am* making progress!"?