# Why do people and mental health professionals assume recovery is so easy?



## Dreaminggurl (May 8, 2015)

I'm not talking about DP but many other conditions.

For instance, I am constantly told by mental health workers to regulate my sleep schedule and eat properly as that is the way" to recovery. I have been doing these things for most of my life (good circadian Rhythm, good diet) yet I have never found this has benefited my disorder.

I am constantly "told off" by others for "not doing enough" to take care of myself when this could not be farther from the truth.

I gave gone back to school, I am working, I attend groups and therapies, I have taken pills in the past (but this was not effective for me) I socialize as much as I can. And try to be generally positive. .. Yet despite all of this I still can't kick the depression, borderline personality or numbness from DP (though I'm over the unreality).

Recovery for me has been incredibly difficult and there's no magic therapy or cure.

I wish people wouldn't be so quick to judge. There are some people that for whatever reason don't respond to conventional therapies in the same way as others. It doesn't mean we're not trying.


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## Guest (May 10, 2015)

I know what you mean, many are quick to do say you are not doing enough and to be honest when it's been said to me I wanted to knock whoever said it through the wall. No one can ever know how difficult recovery maybe for someone else. I've seen some members recover very easily and post messages about how easy it was expecting what worked for them will work for everyone. It's simply not the case. Everyone is different. I get where you are coming from on this I guess all I can offer is that sometimes in life you have to deal with people who are quick to judge. It's funny though, how debilitating this is I call it my version of cancer, if I had cancer would these people be saying "you're not trying hard enough?" Absolutely not.


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## Dreaminggurl (May 8, 2015)

Have any of the medications used to treat any kind of mental health disorder cured it? Nope. I have read that only 45% of people taking antidepressants actually respond to them. Why? Because mental illness is way more complex than simply a "chemical imbalance" - that was really only a hypothesis.


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## Ningen (Apr 16, 2015)

I've never agreed with the chemical imbalance theory. Scientists also say the chemical imablance is the main determiner of one's personality. That talkative types have more dopamine or serotonin or something along those lines. Their may be a correlation but there is no casuality. I think it really has more to do with one's thought processes, intrinsic tendencies and genetic predisposition.The same can be said of DP.


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

I call them the Pull Your Socks Up people and yes i want to knock them through a wall..As far as im concerned mental health treatment is still in the dark ages..because of this most treatments dont really work or are at best experimental..The worse thing ive encountered in all my years of mental ill health were doctors/therapists who had no compassion or understanding of what i go through..after all they are the ones who are supposed to help..unforTunately i encountered alot of professionals like this over the years..you are left with a complete sense of hopelesness..as for diet,exercise and sleeping habits...doesnt do shit for alot of people who really struggle like myself..its my opinion that mental ill health is the worst kind of illness to have because its invisable..i haveoften said i would rather have cancer as people would understand and be much more sympathetic and supportive..most pople with mental health issues get no support or understanding..it is an existance not a life...


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## eter (Aug 21, 2015)

I think I can understand you Dreaminggurl. I would feel diminished, and after some time, frustrated, angry and very sad. From your post it seems to me like you are doing exactly all you can do, and you get no confirmation or approval from people around you. That must be simply devastating, and I am sorry. Have you tried to explain how comments like that, make you feel? 
I think people should assume in general, that everybody always is trying their best to do right. If they fail in our view, we should think; what can I do, to help.

I am a big advocate of using farmaceutecales as a part of treating psychiatric disorders in general. 
Personality disorders are different from for example depression though as you of course know. A personality disorder is not an illness. Depression is. There is no treatment for personality disorders, but, you can learn strategies to cope with it, emotionally and practically through DBT and MBT for example. Have you been in any such teraphy?

Pharmaceuticals are really just...substances used to prevent, relieve and/or cure illness. No more magic then a needle and a thread, just a bit harder to work with sometimes. When depressed, the communication between thoughts, feelings and "neurotransmitters" is actually changed. Most medicines given to people with depression affects these "neurotransmitters" in the brain, making them more active. 
Not everyone needs medicine to recover from depression of course. And others, even when taking medicine, exercising, going to therapy, getting ECT, still do not recover unfortunately. People are so different. Depressions are so different. I do think that medicine has had and will continue to have, a crucial part of many peoples survival and recovery from psychiatric disorders.

From your post you do actually seem to operate on a pretty high level of functioning. Even if you feel your emotional and pshysical health is bad, that bad health does not seem to be a great hinder for your capacity to participate in life.

I say this because I want you to look at, acknowledge and take pride in all the things you actually manage to do in your every day life.

It can be so disheartening see what you are lacking or longing for in the lives and faces of others.

A part of recovery simetimes is to just let yourself feel sadness about your limitations in life, I think.

You are doing a fantastic job. I am moped. I can not do a 3rd of that. Next time someone says "try harder", you give them a high five. With a chair. In their face.


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## eter (Aug 21, 2015)

I am not moped. I am moved.


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## TDX (Jul 12, 2014)

The reason why there is no treatment for most patients with depersonalization disorder is that the psychiatrists did not put any effort into finding a treatment. So it's their fault. They are guilty. But they don't want to admit it. So they put the blame on you.

Another reason might be that many people still think that psychiatric disorders exist, because there is something wrong with your attitude or with your habits and that you can get out of it by yourself. That's in many cases just as delusional as thinking that you could cure cancer by positive thinking.

In my opinion people with depersonalization disorder must realize that many of them will never recover and that this is not because they do something wrong, but because they are discriminated against by the doctors which have the task to help them.


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## TDX (Jul 12, 2014)

> I do believe recovery is more than possible.


I prefer to know than to believe.



> To paraphrase the late Oliver Sacks: Hallucinations are part of the human experience.
> 
> Same can be said about dissociation.


I don't really understand what your argument is.


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2015)

Describe mental health worker... If a therapist or a psychiatrist is a laymen, than who are the professionals?


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2015)

I'll agree with good and bad, can't generalize and say they are all laymen though. Some doctors are awful, some save lives. I think you have to call them "professionals" regardless.


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## mana_war (Jul 3, 2014)

because it is easy for them and the answer in fairly simple...have healthy relationships with people, take care of your body, don't put stress on yourself get awway from toxic situtions..it is just easier said than one when u are there


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2015)

Yes, my mother tells me that all the time "You feel this way because you don't get enough sleep, you don't eat right etc."

If I try to explain to her what I'm feeling she just rolls her eyes and acts annoyed then says.

"Are you doing what the doctors told you to?" What does feeling weird mean anyway? What do you mean you don't feel real?" You think too much."

"You're not doing what the doctors told you to, there's nothing wrong with you-you just need to relax."

:/

I gave up on telling anyone the way I feel they're just going to tell me to get over it


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2016)

i totally agree with the original post. I mean, you even mentioned borderline personality. How the hell can diet etc, normal life etc, cure you from DP etc when you got other issues going on? I think its damaging. I think it gets to the point of abuse sometimes. I mean when you tell a person, who is doing EVERYTHING they can, they are either doing it wrong or not trying, when in fact they are, and the outcome isn't what it could be, Its abusive. Jeff, I agree, I see it like a cancer too. Not everyone's cancer is going to respond to the same treatments. Some get better totally, some have mild recovery, and some die. It would be hard to find someone blaming someone for they're cancer. Its just not accepted in this society unless you're a sociopath and don't care. Again, someone having DP for a couple years cause of surface issues and recovers, really isn't in a place to say they know it all, etc, when each of us are the same yet vastly different.


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