By Melanie Dallas, LPC
September is National Recovery Month and it is a good opportunity for us to reflect on what recovery means, especially for individuals living with complex mental health challenges. It’s important to understand that recovery is not the same as ‘cure.’ Individuals living in recovery with mental health conditions are not cured of their conditions, but rather have learned to manage those conditions in order to live in and be productive members of their community.
This is not always easy; some individuals need community-based support and intervention. While much of that support is provided by mental health professionals (such as Highland Rivers’ Assertive Community Treatment and Intensive Case Management programs), I believe everyone has a role in supporting individuals with mental health challenges – sometimes in ways we may not realize.
There is a short but compelling scene in the 2019 movie Joker in which main character Arthur Fleck, who becomes the titular Joker, is writing in his journal – and we see the words he writes: “The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don’t.” It’s a sentiment that in my experience is so true it transcends Hollywood. And it’s a burden made heavier by the fact that individuals with complex mental illness may not even realize their behavior is outside what society might consider appropriate. But really, what is the ‘right’ way for a person with a mental health condition – any mental health condition – to behave?
The question we should ask ourselves is, do our expectations also provide support – or do we expect people in living recovery to behave as if they don’t have mental health challenges?
Interestingly, our expectations seem to be much more accepting of individuals experiencing difficulties due to physical health conditions. If you’ve ever had a close friend or family member who lives with diabetes, you know it is a complex condition and often requires daily management – testing blood sugar, perhaps injecting insulin, monitoring what and when you eat. Even so, sometimes a person’s blood sugar can drop, and they become incoherent, sweat profusely or even pass out – which is a medical emergency. Yet, when a person is experiencing a diabetic episode, I’ve never heard anyone snidely remark that person should do a better job managing their condition.
Sadly, we don’t seem to extend the same compassion and understanding to individuals with mental health conditions – many of which likewise require daily monitoring and medication (some that cause unpleasant side effects, but which many people still find preferable to living with untreated mental health challenges).
As you might imagine, complex mental illness can at times be difficult to manage and individuals living in recovery are often doing the best they can – just like someone living with diabetes or other chronic disease. And in both of these examples, people want to manage their conditions so that they are able to live their lives, hold a job, raise a family, and not end up in a hospital emergency department.
Each year for Recovery Month, Highland Rivers holds a staff contest to design a Recovery Month t-shirt and theme. This year’s winner was, “Recovery is not perfection, it is progress.” I think it’s a great sentiment – recovery is never perfect, because people are not perfect. Expecting people living in recovery with mental illness never to behave as if they have no such challenges might ultimately do more harm than good. Progress is what’s important.
So this September, let’s commit to making progress ourselves – to never forgetting that recovery is always possible; to extending compassion, understanding and acceptance to people who are struggling with their mental health; and to having realistic expectations of people who are trying their best to live their best, and each day are making progress.
Melanie Dallas is a licensed professional counselor and CEO of Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, which provides treatment and recovery services for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 13-county region of northwest Georgia that includes Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk and Whitfield counties.