<blockquote>
pachyderm: My "recovery" is a continuing thing, spanning decades now. I have found no psychotropic medications useful, and I've taken a lot of them. My relations with "professionals" ranges from massively destructive (to me) to, finally, very helpful in the last few months. What has been most helpful is a lot of reading, finding stories of the many people who have, mostly on their own, fought their ways out of despair -- and coming gradually to a sense of my own worth and accurate perception of what the origins of my experience are.

I more or less consider myself to be recovered although I am still continuing to learn from that experience. I did live very quietly for a number of years and to a certain extent, still do. Despair was certainly part of my recovery -- tonglen practice and finding others who could identify with my personal experience helped considerably in that regard. There's much to be said for the benefit of time as well.

Like you, I've also done a great deal of personal reading in order to understand my experience. I've summed up my recovery experience here should you care to read it: My Personal Definitions of Recovery. Do feel free to wander through either of my blogs as the spirit moves you.

Meanwhile, it's always tremendously encouraging to hear from others who have been there and have found their way back to stable ground. This is particularly so, I think, for those who have been only recently diagnosed and wonder what is to become of their life. It's very important for them to know that recovery is a very good possibility for them, as is a life of meaning and purpose.

Nice to meet you pachyderm.