Can mental illness be CURED? Have any of you suffered from mental illness at one time but are fine now? At the time did you KNOW you were ill? How?

Congrats on your recovery! You're absolutely right that addiction is an illness. 

Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful reply MY FRIEND. You are insightful. Yep. The OD is in fact the "inspiration" for this question. But it also applies generically. So it is more likely to be managed  (with meds I guess) than cured but some are curable. I have read that it is linked to intelligence and I think that's really sad. Maybe because smarter folks are more sensitive to things...more aware of them..more honest about them. I'm glad you're well now SA. Did the experience change you in any way? Happy Thursday! :) ((hugs)) That's for holding on and hanging in and coming through the tough times.                                

I did not know that about you Sharonna. I am very glad that you have it under control. And even gladder that you survived the danger to you.  Someone posted that mental illness and intelligence  is connected. Maybe because smarter folks feel things more keenly and are  simply more aware than most. Years ago my then best-friend Patricia had an artistic genius brother. Who killed himself.  I never met him. I met her after she lost her brother. I didn't know about him until years into our friendship.  And she told me that he just could not relate to anyone in any way. She meant that he was so much smarter than those around him he had no one to talk to who could understand him. He felt lonely and isolated. He was in his 40's when he committed suicide. I think that was before MENSA  existed  but I'm not sure. That story always haunted me. It seems to me to be a terrible price to pay for being very intelligent. Happy Friday! :).               

I know you're bi-polar my friend because you told me.  It's funny though Ele. I have NEVER seen you become erratic. I have known some people who are bi-polar too and you never know which person you will see that day. They tend to go from agony to ecstasy and seem to be two different people. One day they are cordial and friendly and polite and the next day they will lambaste you and smack the crap outta ya verbally. Which is not very pleasant. But not you. You have always been consistent and dependable and cordial and friendly and I look forward to our chats. I'm never wary of which  Ele will show up. At least not so far and I guess we've been friends for quite a long while now. Are there different degrees of bi-polar? Are some folks mildly so while others are heavily so? Thank you for your reply and Happy Friday! :)

Thank you for your reply CMA and Happy Friday! :)

Thank you for sharing this Sharonna. That was very brave. I am glad you are doing good now:)

Hope so

A friend of mine, who has worked as both a mental and physical health nurse, told me that you cannot cure mental illness, you can only treat the symptoms.
And Savvy, most of Rosie's questions are about the orange-haired demon. Though I object to your calling him a demon. He is not one of us. I should know!

You are a danger to this world.

Very Funnee Hunnee. Here's something you probably won't believe. I NEVER ONCE thought of demon when I saw your name. NOT ONCE! Now that you bring it up I shouldda but I didn't. Maybe because you are not what I consider to be demonic. Happy Saturday to thee HarryD! :)

The Snake Pit  was made  3 years before I was born 

The poem I wrote myself

I am very impressed. So  we have a poet among us then? That is very good. Thank you for the info and Happy Sunday SN! Are you published? If not you should be! :)

I have compiled two volumes of 20 poems but have not tried to publish them yet

So glad you liked

it ere is one I wrote for my wife on our anniversary

When first we met our passion grew

The love we had was strong and true

A love that would not fade and die

We reached the stars

We touched the sky

 

And through the years if times were bad

You made me smile when I felt sad

We shared the joy, we shared the pain

We chased the wind

We kissed the rain

 

You’ve been the one that calmed my fears

You gave me hope and dried my tears

You learned the secrets of my soul

You kept the faith

You kept me whole

 

And though we may be growing old

I still have your sweet hand to hold

You’ve been a dear and perfect wife

You’ve been my love

You’ve been my life

 

One day in Heaven’s bliss with you

Our love shall still be strong and true

We’ll reach the stars and once again

We’ll chase the wind

We’ll kiss the rain

That is very beautiful m'dear! Very beautiful. Thank you for sharing that with us. Do you have an agent? Two books on deck already and not yet published? Have you submitted your work to magazines or other outlets for poetry? How do you protect your work? I don't suppose you can get your poems patented so no one steals them, can you?  Anyway I hope we see more of your work SN. I KNOW I'm not the only appreciator on Answermug. There are many of us! Thank you again! I am honored to chat with you as we do!  :)

Thanks a lot Rosie, but there really is no money to be made writing poetry these days.

It is reward enough for me to know someone enjoys my stuff

You're welcome but surely there are still contests and publications that publish great poems? Is poetry itself less popular now than it was decades ago? I don't know how old you are m'dear but in my day I devoured poetry along with everything else. So did  many others. I would hate to think that poetry has lost its audience or that it has diminished significantly. I shall ask a question about it in fact. My taste runs from e. e. cummings, to Edna St. Vincent Millay to Dylan Thomas to Shakespeare  to song lyrics many of which are pure poetry. Poetry speaks from the heart to the heart. There is no substitute. Thank you for your reply SN! :)

Not necessarily. You have to ride it out with medication. That's what I'm going through right now. I was diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder and it is supposed to take six months before it's either determined to be schizophrenia or just schizophreniform disorder. My doctor ruled it was not schizophrenia, but I have at least two years, one of which will be medicated, to undergo with her. 

I was admitted in the middle of a psychotic break and they did a brain scan and a lot of counseling before they determined it was what it was. I don't exactly know how it is supposed to work for schizophreniform, but I know schizophrenia is for life. If anything I think these two years I'll carry the label and symptoms and then after is anyone's best guess. My brother has schizophrenia. Our mother had it. 

I didn't know that I was ill. I was admitted involuntarily by my father. After being arrested and transported to one hospital and then the next I was discharged and then put on this treatment plan. Recently she ruled that I did not have to be admitted again, but I see her the last Thursday of every month now. 

I never heard voices or saw things that weren't there. Paranoia and deluded thinking were my symptoms, but they ruled it is what I have so I'm going with their ruling.