[CalmingOcean]

One of my t's told me it's possible... Except maybe schizophrenia tho they are highly regarded in some places as people who can talk to god etc...

But anyways. I have C-PTSD, bipolar, borderline tendencies and an ED.
And now that I am learning about therapy and DBT and CbT, a whole lot of ****ed up thinking. Like my mind is seriously broken. I don't even trust what I think anymore. I use to think I was so clever but I don't think I am...

Anyways. I want to be cured of this ****. I want to know what a 'normal' life feels like. To just be able to hang out with people and feel okay about being there, let people get close enough before I push them away. Just 'be'.

I don't know if I can tho. If trauma happened in early childhood does the actual 'me' even learn to grow? Sometimes I feel like I am stuck in such immature thinking patterns. This **** makes no sense.

I am so frustrated. I want my sweet oblivion back I think. Knowing has made me to hyper vigilant to how I may be acting or thinking wrong. Ugh. It's exhausting.

[tradika]

Some things cannot be cured, but everything on your list is manageable. A lot of it has to do with being committed to treatment. Don't just go through therapy to talk to someone. Go through it absorbing and applying it to manage your symptoms. Same principle with medication.

[striking]

Yes it can be exhausting to take on too much and frustrating when the results we want do not come fast enough. After discussing with your T try taking a step back and decide which areas you want to focus on first. When you feel you can manage expand yourself into another area.

[jaciRock]

I guess it depends on what your idea of 'cured' is. I consider myself cured of psychosis but I'll be taking meds forever. I'm okay with that.

[(JD)]

At present there is no "cure" for PTSD. However, it seems that they are constantly learning about how the brain works...and indeed everything I'm reading reinforces the mind-body connection as being inseparable.

One of the reasons they debrief military and trauma workers is they've found the sooner one receives help in "handling" it the better the outcome. PTSD seems to be, in my words, when a trauma causes the brain to dump all your memory files onto the floor and forgets how to file them.

Good therapy helps retrain the brain--through positive thinking about those memories--and lets it file them back where they belong so they aren't in our conscious "all the time".

The sooner the therapy, the fewer bad habits we resort to to try and manage all that chaos! Much of PTSD therapy, imo, is learning how to block the negative thinking which adds to the chaos, and build positive memory trees in our brain. The brain has no opinion of it's own, I've learned, but takes everything we say and do as "truth"... when we say a negative thing (can't, won't, never, etc) the brain believes us and that's how it responds and makes our bodies respond. We have 30 seconds to change a negative thought or comment into a positive one (that's not true, I AM a nice person...) before the brain files the bad thought.

Okay a lot of info...sorry... but in my 30 year journey with PTSD I try to stay on top of the research and better myself and my life for it.

ONE of the key things my T taught me is not to go too fast. Many Ts don't really realize this about PTSD (and therapy in general?) is the slower you go the faster you get "there". When you feel overwhelmed for days after a session, odds are you are covering too much in session and need the T to slow it down. That's an agreement you need to have with T...as you may become so triggered you don't realize it.

There is life ahead.

As someone with bipolar disorder, I can say I don't think it's possible to ever be "cured" of it, if cure means for it to go away. I think the symptoms can be managed though, and someone with bipolar can be symptom-free for an extended period of time because that was my case.

I don't know for sure about borderline traits and an ED, but it would seem that those could be managed with therapy.

[avlady]

i think people can be stabelized with the meds and therapy

[gloamingone]

Like many others here, I believe chemically-induced mental illnesses can't be cured. We can be taught to manage our symptoms to cope better, though.

When our mental illnesses are caused by external, situational factors, that's another story. In these cases, hard work and therapy, recovery is definitely possible!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't think cures are on the agenda, I think managing the side effects or managing the condition itself is what the goal is for most. I know its exhausting, like being on a merry go around that never stops. But i hope things get better

[CalmingOcean]

Originally Posted by (JD)

At present there is no "cure" for PTSD. However, it seems that they are constantly learning about how the brain works...and indeed everything I'm reading reinforces the mind-body connection as being inseparable.

One of the reasons they debrief military and trauma workers is they've found the sooner one receives help in "handling" it the better the outcome. PTSD seems to be, in my words, when a trauma causes the brain to dump all your memory files onto the floor and forgets how to file them.

Good therapy helps retrain the brain--through positive thinking about those memories--and lets it file them back where they belong so they aren't in our conscious "all the time".

The sooner the therapy, the fewer bad habits we resort to to try and manage all that chaos! Much of PTSD therapy, imo, is learning how to block the negative thinking which adds to the chaos, and build positive memory trees in our brain. The brain has no opinion of it's own, I've learned, but takes everything we say and do as "truth"... when we say a negative thing (can't, won't, never, etc) the brain believes us and that's how it responds and makes our bodies respond. We have 30 seconds to change a negative thought or comment into a positive one (that's not true, I AM a nice person...) before the brain files the bad thought.

Okay a lot of info...sorry... but in my 30 year journey with PTSD I try to stay on top of the research and better myself and my life for it.

ONE of the key things my T taught me is not to go too fast. Many Ts don't really realize this about PTSD (and therapy in general?) is the slower you go the faster you get "there". When you feel overwhelmed for days after a session, odds are you are covering too much in session and need the T to slow it down. That's an agreement you need to have with T...as you may become so triggered you don't realize it.

There is life ahead.

Wow thank you for this... This helps. I just started into DBT work which totally triggered my 'bad side' that got really mad about how my thinking must be completely broken and that I am so damn weak I can't just get over this stupid trauma **** blah blah blah... Then I got mad at therapy and pretty much everything... I had a good visit with my t tho. Pretty much said what you said except the 30 second thing... I like that. That seems scientific and legit, not just a matter of 'fighting the bad thoughts when they come in, countering them' but actual fact you CAn change it. That means challenging bad side tho..

Okay thanks again.

[CalmingOcean]

Thank you everyone...

I'm not hung up on labels but I am hung up on the fact that I am realizing how 'not normal' I am. I've felt it most my life and then kept up a pretty good 'fake' act, but I'm tired of it. I just want to be comfortable in the world. I have to be here now. I created a life for myself. I have a husband and a 2 year old son (that I do love dearly)... But I can't just 'leave' anymore. So if I have to be here, I want to at least 'try' to 'want' to be here, but I don't want to feel different the entire rest of my life...

[(JD)]

For PTSD specifically (and other disorders as learned responses) the "normal" reactions are Fight/Flight/Freeze. This can be unlearned...but you have to use your mind to do it (doh---it is all in our head because that's where our brain is lol)

Don't take on too much to work upon...pick ONE something first.

[JustTvTroping]

7-8 years of feeling depressed and it's slowly but surely melting away. I'm not 'cured' per se (I still have that existential crisis and that cynicism), but music and stretching seem to help me so far (and that was just about a week ago). I guess the right combination of certain factors that don't involve medicine (if you're like me and don't want to resort to that) such as what makes you feel good, optional lifestyle choices, hobbies, etc., can make powerful medicine and minimize some problems because it seems that I haven't felt good enough until I started becoming somewhat of a hedonist (though having time to myself works too).

[Perna]

A great deal of how we go through life is from what we learn. Anything learned can be unlearned or changed to better "fit" our life and what we really want. Medicine does not cure anything, it just helps with symptoms and makes some things easier and maybe assists the body in doing its work (and maybe not). Only one's body can cure itself, the chemistry and balance is too complicated for humans yet, messing with it. You take one pill and it has side effects that you take another pill for, that sort of thing. Sometimes you have to take that pill to save your life (antidepressant side effects beat committing suicide, for example; I had to take too many antibiotics to get rid of an infection that was threatening my life that the doctor's didn't understand (hence the too many, they were the "wrong" kind, I needed 2 different ones but the one kept me in the fight until we thought of the other) and now I have other problems as a result.

Our body knows what it is doing. So sometimes it's just a matter of helping it by learning/unlearning things that are making it hard for it, getting in our way mentally. Therapies like CBT/DBT can help there or there are lots of other things to try, it's an individual thing what will work for one person as one's mental health is individual. I'm not depressed, perhaps you are not anxious, etc.

[Gus1234U]

to all appearances, i have been 'Cured' of bipolar, ocd, panic, phobias and suicidal ideations. it took a variety of 'therapies' that actually help the brain to make (and remake) new connections, to see the world in a different way and respond to it in new ways, with new equipment.

i used the binaural beat technology, sold at CenterPointe.com as a brain therapy tool; i used acupuncture, which worked very well for me; i used meditation, which strengthens the brain in many ways and stabilizes it's processes. and of course, i used the challenges of every day life to adjust myself, to stop reacting excessively.

i believe in CURE. maybe that's why i got it,,, if all you want is Management,
you can try for that. every brain is different, every life is different,,, you have to be willing to be present, to actually experience the crud, so you know where it is, and how much to scrub. start with the worst things first. go at a pace that leaves you able to function. BE GENTLE with yourself, you've suffered enough. and remember, all this takes time and repetition and practice practice practice. there may be relapses, this is not important. what IS important is the progress. PRAISE YOURSELF for every success.

best wishes~
Gus



(statistically, 40% of us are "not Normal" )

In my personal opinion of myself, I see me with a hole through my head. It'll never get fixed. All I can do is learn to live around that hole. It's there for all to see, and many like to look through it to see the other side. I can scratch my opposite ear through it. It's just a hole, but it doesn't define me. I'm stronger because of it. It doesn't have to set you back. Be proud of your hole and kick any bodies butt that makes fun of your hole. I do.