Posted by mila on July 10, 2001, at 22:01:04
In reply to The Path to Minimal Pathology, posted by Andy123 on July 7, 2001, at 10:32:10
Hi Andy,
thank you for starting an interesting thread.
i am in full remission now myself, emotionally I am OK, but I still have to deal with the consequences of my depression and anxiety disorder, and with the damage caused to me by the ADs.
I put my full effort into exercising my memory (paxil destroyed both my LTM and proactive memory, a horror story), because poor recall makes me feel unsure of myself, and a bit 'crazy'. I do not like the feeling. Now my memory is actually better than it was before the treatment.
I also actively pursue meeting new people. Depression made me very lonely. I constantly remind myself to smile to people and to say something nice even to the strangers. Feeling that I belong to my city, to my neighbourhood and to my class, etc. makes me very happy, and reinforces the recovery.
Finally, I remind myself from time to time to experience anger when under stress. Not irritation, which is more a sign of a depression, but some sort of an angry rebellion. It somehow makes me feel strong and powerful, and I go through the trials of life more successfully, laughing at the ways I used to be scared of challenges before.
This is how I keep myself at the level of 'minimal pathology' as you say. I got into remission by swallowing pills for 7 months and having CBT for 15 weeks. Prior to that I suffered from two bad anxiety disorders for 25 years and a double depression for 10.
mila
poster:mila
thread:7154
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010706/msgs/7290.html