Posted by KathrynLex on August 12, 2018, at 12:22:13
In reply to the pills, the labels, posted by Christ_empowered on August 12, 2018, at 10:23:18
The pills are a crap shoot. In previous years, I've found medication that worked incredibly well, but like so many of the SSRIs, they stopped working. I feel a very noticeable difference between when my medication is working and when it's not. When I feel well, and my medication is working, I can actually leave the house (I have a debilitating anxiety disorder that sometimes leaves me housebound), I feel like socializing, and things like showering, fixing meals, and running errands don't feel like insurmountable chores. WHEN medication works, I think we take better care of ourselves, and that leads to us feeling even better, so it's a combination of medication and our own actions that can lead to a higher quality of life. Those are just my thoughts on the subject, and I know (and respect) everyone has a completely different experience with medication.
I know you were talking about labels our culture assigns us, but it made me think of my psychologist. He doesn't use labels. He looks for the root of a problem, and the figures out ways to address it - in ways that are effective for me - without giving it a name. From him, I've learned that self-perception is a really powerful thing. Am I loser because I've struggled with mental illness for nearly 30 years? Or because I sometimes move home when the majority of people I know are well into paying off their mortgages, are stashing away money for their kid's college fund etc etc etc. I used to think it made me a failure, but then I met my psychologist, and he helped me to shift my thinking. I can't compare my success with the success of others. What other people are doing and how they're living their lives has no relationship to my life or my happiness. I'm slowly learning to embrace that I have some incredibly big challenges with my mental health, but they don't define me, and they don't make me any less of a human being. (I wont' ever have white picket fence, two kids, and a dog.) The trick is to find ways to be happy in your own skin. That means looking at your successes and celebrating them. Some days, my big victory is showering and making my bed. That's really good for me, and I'm going to be happy with the accomplishment. If you can get to a point where you stop comparing yourself to the success of others, and embrace yourself as you are (and I'm still working on it!), then labels are so much less powerful.
poster:KathrynLex
thread:1100247
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20180728/msgs/1100249.html