Mental Illness

It's interesting. There are several posts where partners are talking about how their partner refuses treatment for mental illness. It would be interesting to talk to the person with the illness to see why they are refusing treatment. I can imagine that some people with illness don't even like to acknowledge the illness because there is such a stigma. Some people may buy into the prejudice against psychotropic drugs. I did. When I first had a diagnosis for OCD, I wouldn't take medication because I bought into the idea that it is not necessary and that I should be able to conquer this without it. A few years down the road, I'm exhausted and finally just give in to taking the medication. I still run into therapists who hate medication and articles that say things like people shouldn't be taking those drugs for "a bad day." Yeah, having a mental illness is having more than just a bad day. It doesn't help anyone that a lot of mental health professionals don't always understand these illnesses and there's not a real standardization of care. And there is not a lot of support for families. You have to navigate yourself.

I wonder too, if significant others sometimes think that if you find the right treatment the illness will just go away. Not to blame them for that. I know it is harder to live with someone who has a mental illness. It's hard to be the person with the illness. So I am not criticizing that. In fact, until just recently I was hoping that if I take the right medication or the right therapy the OCD will go away. But that is not reality. Most of these conditions are chronic and sometimes you have setbacks. What do other people think?

Put the internet to work for you.

Turn off or edit this Recipe