Is it possible to “beat” mental illness? Or does it depend on type/circumstance?
“Beating” mental illness is actually the norm, not the exception. Most people who have a major depressive episode never have another one. 80% of people who survive their first suicide attempt never make a second attempt. 93% of Borderline Personality Disorder patients achieve remission. Up to 74% of people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder achieve significant clinical improvement in their symptoms, and 20% achieve full remission. Half of Generalized Anxiety Disorder patients achieve remission after the acute phase of treatment. Even disorders with relatively low rates of remission - bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoid personality disorder - generally become milder and easier to manage as you age. Psychiatric symptoms tend to peak in your 20s and generally drop off as you get older, especially if you seek treatment.
This is why the narratives we use to talk about mental illness matter so much. Right now, the dominant narrative is that mental illness is “an imbalance in the brain” and that it’s largely something that people are born with. There are upsides and downsides to this. The upside is that it promotes the idea that mental illness is not the ill person’s fault, and it helps us understand that mental illness can impact anyone, regardless of their life circumstances. The downside, however, is that it’s sort of given us this idea that mental illness is inborn and unchangeable. People have taken on the idea that “that’s just how my brain is”, when the reality is that, for most people, mental illness is less of a stable trait for them, and more of just a shitty thing that they are going through for a little while. The idea that mental illness is just “in your brain” also erases the very real connection between your life circumstances and your mental health - while it’s very true that a wealthy person in a happy marriage can become depressed, it’s also very true that living in poor conditions and being in an abusive marriage can be the cause of depression, and that improving your life circumstances can lessen or eliminate mental health conditions.
If you have a mental health condition, it’s very important that you not resign yourself to the idea that you’re going to be like this forever. Chances are, you won’t. Even if you have a mental health condition that is associated with low rates of remission, it is possible to make leaps and bounds in your functioning, and to get to a point where managing your condition becomes second nature to you. Our understanding of mental illness is improving every year, and new therapies and treatments are becoming available all the time. If you seek treatment and do your best to manage your condition, you have every reason to believe that you will make huge improvements.
Hope this answers your question!
(Adding that all the books I’ve read, and my therapist, agree that PTSD/c-PTSD, with treatment by actual trained trauma therapists, is generally recovered from in approximately 2 years, give or take! Recovery isn’t just possible, it’s the NORM)
Having checked the notes, it looks like the orig post needs some clarifications
If you have a mental illness, it may be that you will struggle some with it for the rest of your life. Many mental illnesses are not “cured”, they are “healed”. Imagine somebody who has broken their leg very badly. The break heals, but for the rest of their lives, they have to be careful with that leg. They have to know their limitations in physical exercise. They have to listen to their body, and when their leg aches, they have to take a break. They may have to do physical therapy exercises a few times a week to prevent further problems, and their leg sometimes still aches when it rains.
But they are, for the most part, healed. They are up on their feet, they are functioning well, they are having a contented and fulfilling life. They are still dealing with their disability, but they are recovered from it.
That’s what recovery is like for a lot of people with mental illness. You may struggle with episodes of emotional pain for the rest of your life. You will probably have to be mindful of how you live your life, and keep an eye on your mood and your thinking so you can intervene when necessary. You may need to start healthy practices that will help you to maintain mental health. You will sometimes cycle back into issues you dealt with years ago.
But you can have a contented and fulfilling life, despite your struggles. You can learn to live and deal with your disability, and it will not longer define you. You can reach your goals and live a good life.
A note: if you have been struggling for many years with mental illness and it doesn’t seem to be getting better, there are a few possibilities:
–You may have been misdiagnosed. I struggled for years with “depression and anxiety”, and I couldn’t seem to kick it. Then I did a lot more research and realized what I actually had was Complex PTSD.
–You may be living in a traumatizing situation (and you might not even know it). My symptoms got considerably worse when I finished grad school and moved back in with my parents. It took me a few years to realize that my parents were actually emotionally abusive. My mental health was getting worse because I was being traumatized by toxic people, and I had never learned to identify their behavior as abusive, so I didn’t even know they were traumatizing me. It is possible to recover from mental illness while still in a traumatic situation, but it’s harder and it takes longer–and you have to KNOW it’s traumatic so your treatment can compensate for the current trauma.
–You may be getting ineffectual therapy. There’s kind of a general idea, both among the public and among many therapists, that talk therapy (or in some cases, CBT) are a cure-all for mental illness. This is not true. You may need a therapist who has specialized training/experience in your particular diagnosis. For instance, there are only three forms of therapy that have been proven to really work for ©PTSD: PE, CPT (not cbt!) and EMDR. The therapist has to be genuinely trained in one of these forms of therapy (not just noodle around with having you hold buzzers while you talk or something). If you have DID or a similar diagnosis, you will probably need a therapist who has been specially trained in working with multiples/systems. I had EIGHT THERAPISTS over the course of my “depression” treatment before I got an EMDR therapist: and I only got her because I specifically sought out an EMDR-trained therapist!
I didn’t make any progress in recovery for many years because I was misdiagnosed, I was unknowingly still dealing with ongoing trauma, and I was getting ineffectual therapy. Now that all three of those issues have been dealt with, I am seeing real progress in my recovery. I’m not there yet, but I’m headed in the right direction. It is definitely going to take me more than 2 years because I had to deal with ongoing trauma while I was in therapy, but I can see progress occurring.
The idea that recovery from mental illness is possible is meant to be a light at the end of the tunnel for you, not a stick to beat yourself with. Be kind to yourself, and don’t despair. Things still can get better, even if it doesn’t look like it right now.
