get better?

[CLB1125]

I wonder, does anyone ever get totally better? I have been dealing with mental illness in one form or another for over 40 years, more than half my life. I am slowly getting worse. More and more meds . No improvement just getting by day by day. Is there any chance of getting “cured”?

[LoveforAll41]

Hi CLB. I think that for myself maybe I am an innately anxious person. I have also struggled with anxiety and depression for over half my life where it has been problematic for me. I sometimes have good stretches and even maybe a better year or two. Then things will come back and it is back to regular therapy or trying something else. I think that I am probably prone to thinking errors and knocking down my own feelings of self-worth or basing them in something. This past year it got really bad and I quit my job and was thinking of disappearing. I then went to an inpatient center. Now I am doing ketamine and have tried hormone therapy.

I think that we all have our tendencies that may easily lead us back to our thinking errors and mental anguish. I also think that when it is bad it is time to do what has worked and also look for new things. Maybe we will always be more prone to suffering, but I think that we can develop the skills to recognize and defeat our thinking errors. Today I feel like I am "better" or "recovered" maybe tomorrow I won't. Sorry, this kind of turned into rambling, but I think there is always hope. Also, I applaud you for making it so long with mental struggles, and I hope that you get feeling good. ❤️

[fauxartist]

Some day we may, they have found recently some gene therapy that may work down the road, but there is no cure for now. That doesn't mean you can't keep working on tools to help you, and accept what we cannot change...don't let this thing define you, and don't rely solely on meds. Knowledge is power...just keep learning, read what others have done to help them through this, and find what works for you. Yes...your going to have crap days, but this is the disease lying to you, this is chemical, you feel sad just because this is what it does, but it's not your fault, you didn't deserve this, and you don't need to have a reason to feel sad, it's just what happens. But I had to find some way to live with this thing...and just ride out the storms when they happen and know it will pass at least for a while.

Many here say they feel like crap every single day, and nothing ever changes...when I was younger I did have long periods of that, until I learned to take some of my power back by understanding everything I could...nobody can fix us...no magic pill... but we can have hope.

[Hidden in reply to fauxartist]

Yep. Definitely no magic pills 😞

[BrightApril]

I don't know if i would use the word "cured". I think i would substitute "remission". Though I can't speak for everyone. In your 40 years, I wonder if you have had some good years. I'm 70 and dealing with depression has been a lifelong struggle. But I have experienced some good decades. Though I am struggling now. We sufferers are not psychic. None of us can predict when another episode will occur. As one philosoper stated, "we must suffer what there is to suffer (our depression) and enjoy what there is to enjoy (our relief from depression) and not worry about cure. Hope this helps.

[CLB1125 in reply to BrightApril]

I wish I could say I had good decades, years even, but I can’t remember a time I was ever “normal “. Even as a child I played by myself and was sad. Now that I’m in my sixties I don’t think I will ever be happy.

[Adlon57]

Oh if only?🤔🤔🤞

[Adlon57 in reply to Adlon57]

I wish for the day to wake up, the sun is shinning, look at my diary, beside my bed see the calendar on the wall, my pill capsule container, no medical appointments, no MRI's no scan's, blank pages, blank after blank, look at the calendar, blank pages, month after month, [year after year], no pills to take, capsule container sellotaped over, that is what I strive for, HOPE FOR, their services are no longer needed🤗 I am 67 terminally ill, irreparable brain damage, PC, etc, etc, I can hope, dream can't I?

[bonkers65]

Not cured but better.

[gerrerd]

Yes!!!

[moggie8]

Depends on what you have

[moggie8]

Depends what you have

[STEM_Dad]

For some people, depression is a lifelong struggle. My mom bipolar II (a milder form of bipolar disorder). She also experienced seasonal affective disorder (SAD) every winter.Throughout much of her adult life, she has also had repeated issues with clinical depression. (She's now happily retired. The clinical depression was related to financial worries and work stress. She still has struggles with bipolar II and SAD, but knows to expect them and gets some treatment that helps.)

• Besides my mom and me, there are several other people in my family tree with known or suspected mental disorders.

I have experienced mild-to-moderate clinical depression, but only since becoming middle-aged (40s), and in response to certain situations.

• Originally, from a difficult work situation. Then again due to marriage problems. Most recently, due to a combination of a prolonged job search and the realization that it had been a year since my wife divorced me.

• Am I now more prone to depression? Perhaps. Or maybe it has been purely reactive to life struggles. Only time will tell.

[Hidden]

Hi! I feel the same as you right now and sometimes it feels like our lives will never get better, but if we just live day by day or for me “hour by hour”and push through the mental pain, It’s one more day closer to getting better! I don’t think for me anyway that I will ever be normal! But what is normal? I think “Everyone” in this world has problems and a lot of times when we have mental health related problems there’s such a stigma! And people that want to judge well, that’s their problem!! That just means that they have more wrong with them!! With my disorder I can be on a high in the hours of the day and it can quickly turn to plummeting in depression in the Same day!! It’s So hard for me to have to go through this but I’m trying my best to get through each day until this finally subsides! When I get like this it can last weeks or months unfortunately. “Stay strong”just for today and me too! Just keep telling yourself “It will get better!”-Shay

[car103]

When I'm in Depression/Anxiety, I can't remember any of my good times. Right now I am in that depressive place, a malaise.I have had a mental health diagnosis for 47 yrs. At this point when this happens, I self talk that this down won't last forever. I also try to find the trigger.

I do think having a mental illness is a lifelong struggle. And it's hard because people don't understand this; they can't see it. Or they make comments like: "Why aren't you better already? You are just lazy. You are faking this."

No one says that to an insulin dependent diabetic.

Keep going. The struggle is real and we on this site know.

[Trainchaser]

I wonder the same thing. Been depressed and anxious most of my life. I am getting better but want to get past normal and thrive for the rest of my life. 64 now so probably got 20 years

[PuzzleArt]

I can understand your saying "totally" better as to what are the chances, as just better, if you are really at the worst, might not even be comfortable, might not even be in the middle, and since you mentioned dealing with it for years, it must mean ups and downs, like not being able to maintain any up times for very long. The idea of being "cured" is what people need and want, from physical and mental conditions. I really believe that getting better is not only possible, but probable. I am defining better as not only recovering from not evem being able to function, but able to include goals a person might have had, before all the confusion started, and being able to enjoy things. How can you participate at all in the process when you need help and are in pain. It has to be very different for each person. Where you find the most help is not always from the friend, family member or medical professional who most want to help and have the best intentions. I can only speak for myself, but I have noticed a process of using both receptiveness to people and skepticism. I try to listen to advice and I understand many are trying to help, but it comes down to my being the final judge about what helps. What is almost like an Olympic challenge, when a person's entire life is disturbed not just be by physical, but includes mental chaos, is that you need to feel better sometimes to nust get started, to get some friction, some momentum, like getting a car moved which is on black ice and you don't have anything with you to put undrr the back wheels. But good news! You have been working creatively on a solution, which included your post ehich communicates very well who you are! I think you got the car started. But the blizzard may not be over yet, and you have to drive slowly and carefully. I believe you have survived the storm, and can trust in better times, a "cure" and recovery that gives some peace, even if some scars remain. .

[raisin44]

My heart hurts for you. I know what you feel like . My meds aren’t helping with my anxiety and major depression either. I am hopeless

[Jeff1943]

David Barlow, Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Boston University, says on the back cover of the biography of Doctor Claire Weekes 'The woman who cracked the anxiety code' that her Acceptance method has allowed 'tens of millions' of sufferers to recover from anxiety disorder and depletion.If you read the reader reviews on Amazon for her books 90% found her method Very Good or Excellent' and the comment 'Saved my life' appears frequently.

Weekes herself said that her method will cure anybody no matter how long or deeply they have suffered.

You must decide for yourself.

[LifeIsThePitts]

As a younger person, I believed that a cure, like in other diseases like a chronic cold or flu, there was a therapy or medication or lifestyle change that would, in the right combination, absolve me of all my depression and anxiety problems. If I was "good" enough or "strong" enough or "dedicated" to my recovery 100%, that it would eventually disappear like a cold eventually is overcome by our immune system response and we go on about our life like it was never there.

I don't believe that anymore.

I'm 20 months into regular TMS treatment for my mental health challenges. It is the ONLY ONLY ONLY therapy that has EVER helped me achieve a "remission -like" state of mind from my rampant depression and anxiety. I cannot go 4 weeks without additional sessions to mediate and reset my brain activity....at least not at this point in my life. Maybe once I get through perimenopause, my hormones will settle down and I'll need less frequent treatment sessions to maintain my stability.

I've come to the conclusion for MY own personal mental health regimen... that it will never be completely CURED...in the sense that a cold eventually is cured by our immune system. But I can continue to get the best treatment that gives me the closest thing to it. More like diabetes...it never TRULY gets cured but as long as you take insulin and care for your body by eating a healthy diet and exercising and sleeping well...you can live a fully rewarding and fullfilling Life with depression, just like diabetes or heart disease or high blood pressure.... proper treatment and support is crucial for a lifetime of dealing with anxiety and depression. It's just VERY difficult to find the right combination for each individual patient. Took me 47 years to discover my combo... but I'm not giving up. I know I'll never be cured in the clinical sense...now I'm just trying to accept that as the truth and walk alongside it instead of constantly trying to run from, ignore or excize it from my life at every turn.