Posted by llrrrpp on June 27, 2006, at 9:52:41
In reply to Re: Can psych treatments cure us? (need inspiratio, posted by muffled on June 27, 2006, at 9:38:35
Hi Michael,
I was feeling super-dumb about 3 months ago. I couldn't remember things, I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't sleep well, and I was weak because I hadn't been eating regularly. I had therapy for about a month, and the therapist recommended that I see a pdoc and get medicine (antidepressant + seroquel for insomnia)Now I can sleep, I can follow conversations, and I'm not completely distracted by my anxiety. I had a lot of worries that wouldn't stop going in my head, kind of like a video loop. repeating every 15 seconds. Couldn't turn it off. And it would turn on regularly at 2 in the morning, or in stressful daily life.
I'm not sure about a cure. I feel a lot better though. And I needed the meds to be able to tolerate therapy. When you can't remember things or follow conversations, therapy is a challenge.
In the meanwhile, the therapy has made a difference. In addition to discussing things that have bothered me a long time that I've never been able to express before, I have gotten really valuable advice on how to deal with difficult social situations, and how to get my life organized.
In the medical model, recovery means that we go back to how we were, pre-disease. But with mental illness, we can never go back to where we were. If we did that, we might still be susceptible to the illness. Ideally the "cure" makes us stronger and more resilient. So that the next time life throws us a curve ball, we know what to do.
But it can't help us unless we make ourselves vulnerable- trusting strangers with your delicate brain chemistry and your innermost secret desires and terrors, and despairs. That's the hardest thing for me. I'd take a brain surgery under general anaesthesia any day!
-ll
p.s. I'm starting to have days now where I feel like the real llrrrpp, not the depressed-incapacitate-anxiety-ridden llrrrpp
poster:llrrrpp
thread:661741
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060623/msgs/661822.html