does society even want us well?

Long story, but I've made great strides towards recovery. Beautiful thing, genuine recovery.

But I'm having problems in my community, and it makes me wonder if at a larger level society keeps us "sick," one way or another.

Some communities are sick-er than others. Mine is sick-er than many, sadly enough. Still, I think maybe its society as a whole, at least in the US.

I have noticed that some mental health "professionals" aren't too keen on genuine recovery. They want good patients, not good people. Not good, not good at all. The counselor I have right now is better than most in that regard.

So what do you all think?

I don't know if society wants us to be sick, just detained and held down with the 21st century equivalent of a straightjacket, da da Big Pharma. Take your meds take your meds. Almost forcing us to be med compliant even for those that are getting better without meds we will always be looked down upon. In my neighborhood when i bike out to the store backpack on some will say "there goes crazy James" well whatever. When I am ready to cut back on my meds I will with my doctors consent and titration level IMHO.

Since illness happens and will continue to do so, there would be no need to "keep us 'sick'", as such. However, I do believe there are corporations (no conscience) that capitalize at our expense and that some people (sick in their own right) do the same as part of their self-delusion of superiority or whatever. On the other hand, however, some of us (and not meaning to suggest this is your own case) tend to want to endlessly talk about our illnesses, treatments and such...and might that not be evidence of continued illness?

I just don't know what to make of it, honestly. The mental health clinic says you can recover, but you have to do what they say in order for your recovery to be a real recovery. Otherwise, you're in denial, sick, lack insight, you're non-compliant with treatment, etc. I benefit from the drugs I'm prescribed right now, so I take them, but what if I decided to recover differently from how they define recovery?

Maybe its partly my personal situation. I had physical and mental health problems and I was made fun of, tormented, etc. I know, "move!," right? Right. Let's just say that serious stigma will find you wherever you go, one way or another. So, I'm back in small town, usa, and its not exactly fun.

I just get the sense that once you're labeled with severe mental problems, the way society works, it traps you, and if you try to step out, you're "uppity" and if you do much of anything, actually, you're "uppity."

I dunno. I'm blessed to be alive, blessed to be healthy and now remarkably normal. God is good. People, not so much. Society, definitely not.

Perhaps I've just had rather good fortune when it comes to psychiatrists but I've never felt that my doctors (or really anyone) want me to stay sick. Honestly, every doc I've had has made the effort to keep my meds only to what will allow me to function successfully. And frankly, if any segment of society wants to label or treat me as less-than, I'm really not interested in interacting with such people. Just like my meds, I stick to what (and who) is conducive to my physical and emotional well-being.

I also find that my psychiatrists are on my side, at least most of the time, and that they are trying to help me get well. I've been schizoaffective for 11 years, and it's been a miserable journey. I've gone through half a dozen medications, some lasting a few months and some lasting a few years, and the illness keeps morphing around them. I went on lithium maybe 6 months ago, and that seems to have tamed the manic spikes, but the anti-psychotics are in a holding pattern. My latest psychiatrist (I go through the VA since I'm a veteran, and they switch my psychiatrists every two years or so) is young and highly motivated; she really thinks we can beat this thing, and sometimes she fires me up with her enthusiasm. What the hell, we've got control of the mania; now for the psychotic aspect of the illness?

In short, I don't think society wants us to remain sick. If anything, people think the mentally ill are gold-bricking, and they want us to get better and go back to work. Big Pharma doesn't care one way or another, because there is a constant supply of fresh sickos coming in to buy their drugs. If a few get better, so what?