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Katie_Kaboom: I look forward to the day when I'll feel like a human again and I'll be able to share my story.

Me too. And it is important to know that other people have been where you are now, or at least somewhere similar, and they can get through it. There's no point in pretending it's easy, because it's not. But it can be done.

Recovery means different things to different people -- it must be self-defined. For most people, recovery means some equivalent of "normalcy". People who self-identify as recovered are people who are engaged in productive activity that is meaningful to themselves or others, such as work or school. They are either living on their own or contentedly with others. They have a network of personal and social relationships that are, themselves, relatively stable and healthy. They are either symptom free or whatever symptoms remain are no longer distressing.

Some recovery models state that in order to be considered fully recovered you have to be med-free. I don't agree with that stance because I've spoken with plenty of people who self-identify as recovered even if they still take medication. Being med-free is not the equivalent of being recovered. Being recovered is when you have resumed a place in larger society that brings you a sense of meaning, purpose and value.