[hartbroken]

Most people agree that mental illness is born during early adulthood or late teen years. One factor, which happened to me, is that stress can release cortisol which affects dopamine level changes, all related to severe mental illnesses, which last for a lifetime.

I guess my question is - why are these chemical imbalances incurable? Why is mental illnesses like bipolar, schizoaffective, schizophrenia, etc.. a lifetime disease? Isn't it possible to regain a balance of dopamine levels and cortisol levels?

[avlady]

I am schitzophrenic, and all i've ever heard is that it is a lifelong illness. I know it's sad, but it is possible to live a good life anyway with the help of meds, T's and docs.

I've been depressed for as long as I can remember. You are asking a very interesting question. I have wondered too why cortisol levels can't be controled as I know my levels are very high and it contributes to every illness I have. I hope someone knows something about this. Thanks forposting this hartbroken. I'm also diagnosed bipolar and have diabetes.

[Hellion]

I don't know about mental illness necessarily starting during early adulthoood or late teen years...I thought that was specifically schizophrenia(though apparently in rare cases it can start sooner). I don't think in my case I will regain a healthy mental state considering I didn't exactly ever have one.

So the way I see it is I just want to manage my crap, not sure why it's incurable...though some argue their mental illness is not incurable so maybe it depends on the person, what they have and other factors.