Quote:
Originally Posted by NORMAL550GIRL
With respect, that's like saying you can be strong enough to overcome diabetes without insulin or cancer without chemotherapy. Just "knuckle-up" and you won't have breast cancer anymore!
Don't confuse serious depression or other mental illnesses with whininess, sadness or being weak. The brain is an organ. It can go wrong just like any other organ. And there are times when no amount of "tough-talking" to yourself is going to help.
If you have never experienced that, that's great. But if there is a person who has a mental illness, I quite frankly, would rather they take a pill for awhile than take out me and a couple of my friends and then commit suicide.
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BTDT.
Had some issues when I was 19.
Shrink initially thought it was bi-polar, prescribed lithium, and everyone assumed I would be stuck that way for life.
(he later recanted the initial diagnosis when circumstances changed)
Eventually I
decided that whatever the issues were, I would overcome them.
Told the shrink that there was nothing wrong with me, and I would not take the meds.
Later discovered the symptoms were consistent with dysexecutive syndrome -- frontal lobe damage.
This is not suprising given the amount of sparring done without headgear prior to the onset of symptoms.
I had a capable brain prior to these problems, but had difficulty using it thereafter.
My brain is indeed an organ, but I am a living soul.
I conditioned my concentration (my brain) through practice -- things such as putting dots in the center of each box in page after page of graph paper.
No, this was not a manifestation of OCD, it was deliberate practice. It's not easy.
I conditioned my
will through hard training in the weight room.
I held myself to high standards of personal behavior.
I beseeched help from the Almighty.
Frequently, I failed (and still do).
Just dusted off and started again (and still do).
I cannot say where a bad attitude ends and brain injury begins.
Ultimately, it was irrelevant.
I was either willing to
excercise what will and disclipline I still had,
or I would let atrophy and excuses take their course.
There are only two states of nature: growth and decay.
Each person has to make their own choice, and live with the consequences.