Encouraging words, right? Especially for those of you (us) who struggle with mental health issues. Just read all the way to the end before you let me ruin your day, okay? It’s not all bad news, I promise.
When you have a mental illness (and admit to needing help), the first and primary goal in your mind is usually to get well again. While admirable, this is pretty much a useless goal; wellness is not an end result. In the long run, it’s impossible. Wellness is a process, and it’s never permanent. Instead, you’re going to feel good for a while, and then you’re going to feel bad again. Think of it in terms of another illness I’m pretty familiar with: diabetes. Once you have diabetes, getting rid of it is not the goal. In fact, it’s currently impossible; there is no cure. Management and control are the goals, and even with the best management and control you’re still going to have trouble sometimes, for reasons beyond your control. You just do the best you can.
The same is true of mental illness.
photo by {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jiaren/334040641/}Jiaren Lau{/link}
There’s an upside to all of this, though. The bad times aren’t permanent either. Now, this may be hard to remember when struggling through a crippling depression or some other kind of relapse, but try. It can’t last forever. This isn’t to say that it can’t last a damn long time or that the solution is just to wait these things out; it can and you shouldn’t. But getting treatment and managing your condition to the best of your ability will keep the bad times from taking over your life.
If you expect to go to the doctor or psychiatrist or therapist and eventually get cured, you’re going to be disappointed. In fact, if you expect a permanent cure and never get one, it’s going to undermine and sabotage your treatment. I’m talking to myself here as well, because every time I have a relapse into depression I get unbelievably discouraged. After all, what’s the point of trying to get better if it just keeps coming back?
Just remember this: It can’t last forever.
And as an extra pick-me-up, every time you look at one of your friends who doesn’t have any mental health problems, remember that their mental health isn’t any more perfect or permanent than yours.
It’s all about perspective.
Related posts:
Interesting idea. But it makes sense. We all have our ups and downs, some better and worse than others. Wellness of ourselves as a whole is a continuum that is in constant flux.
Hi Pam, excellent subject. I’m glad to see someone say that an individual with depressive symptoms should expect to manage their symptoms only. In my treatment experience I can’t remember one time a pyhc doc, MD, or therapist telling me that I should not expect to be cured and only expect to manage my depressive symptoms. That would of been helpful to me in the long run. I have over 20 years experience being treated by the medical community and have to say that they fail when it comes to working in unison to treat depression. I can’t understand why a profession with the esteem of the medical community can’t come up with a set protocol. It seems idiotic to leave it up to the practitioner to decide based on what the weekly drug rep. was pushing. One medical leg says I need some kind of med or combination of, another says I need Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, another says I need Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, still another pursues treatment with homeopathic remedy’s like amino acids and vitamins. I can’t help but think it leaves holes in the treatment process, some forms of treatment get left out along the way. Any thoughts why the medical community is so separated when it comes to treating depression? Is it really about the pursuit of financial gain instead of the patients well being?