People Can Recover From Mental Illness.

Very interesting article, thanks!

Healing and recovery are real
By Daniel Fisher, M.D., Ph.D.

We who have recovered from mental illness know from our personal experience that recovery is real. We know that recovery is more than remission with a brooding disease hidden in our hearts. We have experienced healing and we are whole where we were broken. Yet we are frequently confronted by unconvinced professionals who ask, "How can you have recovered from such a hopeless situation?" When we present them with our testimonies they say that we are exceptions. They call us pseudoconsumers. They say that our experience does not relate to that of their seriously, biologically ill, inpatients.

I recently re-experienced this negative attitude about recovery. A friend of mine, during a discussion in a psychology class, said she knew someone who had schizophrenia, recovered and became a psychiatrist. "He must have been misdiagnosed," was the professor's response. So my friend reviewed my earlier symptoms with me. I met the DSM IV criteria for schizophrenia in the interval from 1969-74. When she presented my history to her professor, he reversed his position and said that the diagnosis of schizophrenia must have been correct. He doubted I had recovered and said, "we now have a case of an impaired physician." By having earned board certification in psychiatry, having worked as medical director of a community mental health center for 11 years and having directed the National Empowerment Center for 3, years I have proven that I am not an impaired physician. This episode reveals the depth of negative expectations which are taught to students. After all, mental illness is considered a terminal condition for which there is no cure. Therefore anyone who appears to have recovered must not have been sick. This leaves no one with first hand experience of what helps and what hurts to speak for those who currently cannot speak due to their distress.

More: http://www.power2u.org/articles/recovery/healing.html

If I had a dime for every time a therapist/psych told me they could fix me with (fill in the blank) I'd be rich.

But then you knew that.

If I had a dime for everytime I was told by my dr's I would never get better...I'd be rich.

But then I recovered.

Not everyone does and those of us who are fighting it don't appreciate the "you can be cured" lectures.

Some people do appreciate it, I recovered because of stuff I got like this right here at PC. There is always a chance for recovery. If you don't appreciate this kind of help then why keep reading it, some others who are still fighting it might actually find help in this. They might appreciate it.

The person posting this is also fighting it, not everyone feels about or sees mental illness the same way. No one is lectureing you or anyone else in this thread, simply posting interesting articles with differing opinions.

You're right. I apologize.

Everybody's got a cure or a pill for me. I've tried almost all of them. The only things that have worked out of dozens of drugs, et al, were Prozac and Risperdal and they're wearing thin.

I get a little edgy when another expert comes along with another claim.

Its ok. Trust me, recovery for me did not come easy nor quickly. I tried over 40 meds.. all kinds of combos and only declined for years and years. I had given up any hope of anything different for myself. My dr's did a good job of robbing my hope for a better future. But you need some hope to even try to get better.

So it's not like I think it's easy, or just snap out of it. There was no one magic cure for me either. It was a combination of many things over a long period of time, which did not include meds. If I stopped the up keep I could possibly fall back to where I was.

But sometimes it is refreshing to get opinions outside of meds here, because we sure have no short supply of that info. And to be honest, they don't seem to be working so good for many.

the thing here is that recovery is not found in a pill. It's usually found within yourself.

I don't think Christian is selling a "cure". They don't promote miracle drugs. They promote a philosophy that can keep you going.

The Value of Depression
By Al Galves

Al Galves is a retired psychologist who lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is the author of Lighten Up. Dance With Your Dark Side. You can find him on his website: www.algalves.com

Al Galves

The biggest problem with the conventional wisdom about mental illness is that it encourages people to ignore the meaning of the symptoms that are used to diagnose them. That is a problem because it deprives people of vital information that can help them live more the way they want to live.

The conventional wisdom about mental illness is that it is caused by genetic factors, chemical imbalances and brain abnormalities. If you believe that, you have no interest in exploring the meaning of the symptoms or listening to what they may have to tell you. Rather, you are encouraged to get rid of the symptoms as quickly as possible and pay no further attention to them.

But what if those symptoms had important information for people, information they need in order to lead healthy, fulfilling lives?

If you believe in evolution and natural selection you would conclude that the symptoms must have some survival value, must be useful in some ways. Were they not useful, they would have been wiped away by natural selection a long time ago. After all, human beings have been evolving for about 30 million years, the estimated time since humans split off from the other members of the primate family. Any human faculty which has lasted for 30 million years must be useful to our survival and well-being in some way.

If that is true, let’s look at some of the symptoms of mental illness and see how they might be useful to us.

Here are the symptoms that are used to diagnose the most common mental illness – depression. (Yes folks, the symptoms that are listed below, and nothing else, are used by doctors and psychiatrists to diagnose clinical depression). You would think – considering the conventional wisdom about mental illness – that there was a more “medical” way of diagnosing depression, a blood test or brain scan. But no, the way it is diagnosed is the doctor, psychiatrist or other mental health professional asks the patient to give a self report on the following questions:

More: http://www.power2u.org/articles/self...epression.html

All the philosophy in the world can't fight genetics and chemistry.

But chemistry is only one therory of many but not a fact. There is also therory about nueroplasicity which has a huge impact on chemical imbalance theory.

My father was also dx bipolar 1 with psychosis like me even tho we were estranged, genetics only go so far. We are really more capable of changing outcome than we believe I think. My father commit suicide and I am recovering my life, emotions, thoughts and wellbeing. So genetics play a role sure, they are not solid predictions of outcome.

genetics are funny thing. And quite unpredictable?

And chemistry? Not wanting to be mean, but it seems it didn't work so well for you...

maybe time to consider philosophy?

The Human Condition

Can Addicts Help It?

Piers Benn can’t resist finding out.

Are you an addict? Or do you just enjoy a certain substance or activity, and spend a lot of time indulging in it? What is the difference, and how could we tell? And if you are an addict, does that mean you literally cannot resist the things you are addicted to? These are important matters, since they relate to whether you’re responsible for succumbing to the addiction, or the misdemeanours you commit when in its grip. So they are also relevant to questions of legal and social policy.

Take an example. Sometimes you hear of people winning huge damages against tobacco companies for persuading them to smoke, thereby harming their health. But can this be right? The courtroom defence, “Your Honour, I shoplifted because a friend persuaded me to,” would be derided. Even if someone did persuade me, I should not have let him. That is why I am responsible. However, if the tobacco companies had me hooked – addicted – before I knew the risks of smoking, and once I knew, I was unable to give it up, might there not be a case against the companies or their advertisers? I continued smoking, but it wasn’t a free choice… I wanted to stop, but couldn’t. I was addicted. Putting aside the base thought that addiction to money is what makes litigation seem a good idea, is there also a morally defensible case?

Addiction

There is much scientific research on addiction. There are questions about how to diagnose it, whether or how it can be treated, what policies might reduce its harmful effects on society, and so on. But there are philosophical questions as well, which turn upon the concept of addiction and the related problem of free will. If addiction is a fact, is it true that addicts cannot control their addictive behaviour? For example, is there a qualitative difference between a ‘normal’ drinker and an ‘alcoholic’? Many people think there is: the normal drinker can control his drinking, whereas the alcoholic cannot. This belief forms the basis of most treatment programmes. But is it true? To find out, we need to investigate the true nature of addiction, and the assumptions underlying treatment programmes.

I propose that addiction is real, although with fuzzy boundaries. I also propose that addicts possess at least some control over their addictive behaviour. So I need to say in outline what I take addiction to be, since many people think it is part of the meaning of ‘addiction’ that the addict lacks control. We need not go down this route. But addictive desires appear, by definition, to be peculiarly insatiable, and gratifying these desires is central to the addict’s life. In consequence, he often seriously neglects other things that would normally be important to him. Take alcoholism, which involves a chronic and largely insatiable desire for alcohol. Drinking assumes a catastrophic centrality in the alcoholic’s life. However, this doesn’t imply that the alcoholic cannot control his drinking, even if going without it brings intense frustration and disappointment.

Alcoholism is described medically as ‘alcohol dependence syndrome’, and it involves such things as gaining an increasing tolerance to alcohol, and physical withdrawal symptoms if drinking is abruptly stopped, eg, tremors, anxiety, or seizures. But does even physical dependence entail a lack of ability to control drinking? Strictly speaking, no. Stopping without medical detoxification is unpleasant and can be dangerous; but even that doesn’t mean the alcoholic cannot stop drinking. (And if he dies in delirium tremens, then he has to stop. The dead don’t drink.)

Disease and Addiction

So why is it so commonly thought that addicts cannot control their addictive behaviour? One idea is that addiction is a disease. That is to say, the cause of the addiction is some disorder outside of your will which you cannot be expected to control. The ‘disease model’ has been much discussed in research literature. Recovery programmes like Alcoholics Anonymous’ Twelve Step program teach in this way that the addict lacks control over his addictive behaviour. Step One of AA’s Twelve Steps to Recovery reads: “We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc, 2001.) This admission is seen as a blessed surrender, often made after many disastrous drinking sprees, mounting medical, legal, familial, social, psychological, financial or professional problems, repeated vows to give up or reduce drinking, and repeated relapse. AA folklore, much of it contained in the fellowship’s ‘Big Book’, Alcoholics Anonymous, contains narratives of desperate individuals who finally accepted that recovery was not possible on their own, but must rest in their turning to a Higher Power – ‘God as we understand Him’ (although nowadays the talk of God tends to be watered down). This can bring alcoholics back to ‘sanity’. AA also believes that alcoholics need to maintain lifelong abstinence, since their disease is literally incurable – as demonstrated by recovering alcoholics who drank again after years of abstinence, and quickly reinstated old behaviours. The disease is always there, waiting to delude them that they can have ‘just the one’ drink. But although there is no cure, recovery is possible – as shown in a re-oriented, abstinent life aided by a Higher Power – God, the ‘room’, sponsors, or, in practice, whatever you choose.

There are many people who swear by Twelve Step movements and who believe their lives were saved by them. And it is wise not to argue with them when they are so happy no longer indulging their previous addiction. Nevertheless there remain some real philosophical difficulties with this approach. I shall discuss some of these problems after briefly looking at some reasons why the disease model of addiction is so appealing.

More: http://philosophynow.org/issues/80/Can_Addicts_Help_It

How will a philosophic approach stop the voices in my head?

it may not stop them, but you will learn to live with them.

I don't have voices (if i don't count my food talking to me and feeling entire cities try to "tell" me things... etc.), but I get very scary feeling of derealization at times (total confusion of time and space). I see things at times... and that's where philosophy and spirituality comes in... often these images do make sense when carefully examined.

And when you stop fighting it and be scared of it... it becomes easier. Much to the degree "I see predator drones, time to relax a bit".

I find that an "It is what it is" approach to life to be quite helpful.

I am actually using a lot of what is being said on this thread. it is helping tremendously, but I am using it along with meds. it's a start, right?

I'm already living with them. I'm not afraid of them. They're full of cr*p. They lie constantly and try to get me to do rotten things.

I've talked to God constantly for years, asked him the usual questions. He's done nothing.

I happen to be a very philosophical person, so I'm still waiting to hear how philosophy is going to get this thing that berates me 24/7 out of my head using the very brain that plagues me.

Its something that will give you power over your own mind and minimize the effects of bp... thinking this way can help you move on with life and lesson the grip that bp has over you

Sent from my LG-P769 using Tapatalk 2

If you've not had voices in your head you don't understand how incessant they are. Try to imagine voices other than your own in your mind, talking constantly while you are trying to talk to someone/pray/work out a problem/just plain think. They constantly interfere, comment, sabotage.

You have no privacy. They know your most intimate secrets and they use them to degrade and ridicule you. It is onboard emotional abuse and it is exhausting.

I have no dreams for my future anymore. I don't fantasize about anything anymore. That's all been ruined by the voices. They do everything they can to destroy peaceful thought.

Try to get a decent sleep. They yell your name until you wake up. Try to fantasize about something nice like a kiss with a gorgeous man and you invite the worst kind of abuse - ugly, stupid, and on and on. Two days ago it was "you are the dirt that makes the flowers (beautiful women) grow".

Philosophy isn't going to rescue me from that.

I appreciate your attempts to swing me around to your way of thinking but the truth is that I've already been down that road. It was a dead-end.

Spirituality and religion are not the same thing, sounds like you are talking about religious experience.

I did hear voices, see things etc..psychosis NOS is one of my dx's. I didnt learn to live with it. As I got well it went away with it, which makes sense. Voices are you, your brain is creating it, and if it is creating it it can also do the opposite and not create it.

But you have to want to get better, you have to hope, and you have to leave doors to possibilities open, it takes a lot of work and takes being ready for change.

Having no hope, closing the door on all possibilities other than what you have now doesn't leave room for much change ? It also takes some self accountability and responsability to change, there are plenty of issues most of us dx'd with mental illness that we can work on. Self esteem is usually one of them especially if you are experiencing those kinds of thoughts. Cognitive thought distortions, core beliefs you hold about yourself and the world around you. Lots if good articles right here on pc about this stuff.

Thing is if you dig your heals in nothing will change. You have to rescue yourself.

I've tried everything but TMS. That's next. I've tried spirituality, meditation, medication, shock therapy (against my will), hospitalization (also against my will).

You're not getting it. Obviously I can't adequately explain to you that wanting to get better, needing to get better isn't working for me.

Just because it worked for you doesn't mean it's going to work for me. You can't make it work by proxy.

Are you a psychiatrist/psychologist/therapist/MD?

There seems to be an effort here to deliberately tick me off.

Another Look At Depression: An Alternative Perspective
By: Debbie L. Whittle

What if depression was viewed not as an illness, but rather, a call; a call from your
own soul? Is it possible there is a gift in depression? We are told that depression is
an illness; one involving brain chemistry. Is it possible to view depression from
another perspective? Is it possible that depression can be viewed as part of a larger
life cycle? Is it possible to see beyond appearances and perceive a higher vision, a
vision of meaning and purpose?

These are the questions I ponder as I look at my own cycles of life; cycles that include
many periods of transition; periods of visiting places of longing, loneliness, isolation,
and despair. There have been many periods in my life when I felt the weight of loss,
the imprint of trauma, the torment of failure, and the hopelessness of dreams.
Yet, in the midst of it all, I keep asking the questions. Rainer Maria Rilke says in

Letter to a young Poet:
“ Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and… Try to
live the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that
are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers,
which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live
them. And the point is to Live everything. Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will gradually, without noticing it, live along some
distant day into the answers.”

I have experienced trauma: sexual, emotional, physical, spiritual. I have experienced
loss: relationships, jobs, home, possessions, and death of a child. I have
accomplished some things I’m very proud of, and I have many regrets. There are
many reasons that I’ve felt worthless, fatigued, hopeless, self critical, full of agony
and despair.

More: http://www.power2u.org/downloads/Ano...Depression.pdf

You came to this thread, with what intention. No one is trying to tick you off. People are actually tryin to help you. When you posted in this thread what is you were tryin to do? You didnt like what you read and and said people, actually you spoke on behalf of all people fighting this did not appreciate this kind of talk. You had your mind made up then. You didn't have to keep posting in this thread if the information hear ticks you off. But that is not on anyone else.

This is a thread about recovery. If you disagree with it all then why post?

Yes I refuse to believe people are absolutely helpless, the mind is a very powerful tool. It doesnt take a degree in medication to know that.