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Recovery from Mental Illness is Possible

Continued

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......I choose the words “a mental illness” with intention. Patricia Deegan (2003, Speech at Recovery Conference, Phoenix, AZ), identifies this as the moment when people begin “to relate to us in an ‘I disease’ model rather than an ‘I thou’ model as Martin Buber might say.” We even begin to relate to ourselves as an illness. Over the past nine years, I have met thousands of people while working that even when we are with each other we often introduce ourselves in classes and meetings in this way, “I am so and so, and I am bipolar” or “I am schizophrenic and my name is so and so.” Our diagnosis becomes who we are in many ways. Often,when we go through our alone time (the system calls this isolation), when we are in grief or fear, often the only people we see are the people who manage us as a “case” in their “caseload.” Our life seems taken over by the diagnosis we have received. Everyone around us supports us in creating our life in such a way that taking our medication, keeping appointments, and things like taking a shower or making our bed become our important goals if not our only goals.

......This life of low expectations comes from a heartfelt concern for us, we realize that. It comes from our system of care as a means to keep us safe. But, it comes to us at the expense of losing sight of who we are, used to be, or could become. It is as if we begin to engage in a dance and all of us know the steps, and so we dance on until one day we begin to understand that we can do much more than dance. We want to change our life. We want to try a different medication. We want to try to work again. We want to see if we can titrate our medication down to a level where we are not sleepy, or we don’t shake all the time, or we do not feel so dizzy, or our sexuality is not impaired.

......It is at this time, that our families, friends, support teams, and doctors must support us as we try. It takes tremendous courage to even try to believe our life can change for the better. It takes courage to ask about work when it took so long to be able to get help from SSI or SSDI. It takes courage to imagine that we might try again to achieve our hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams can replace our goals of taking medication, keeping appointments and making our beds.

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