What Inspires Recovery?

This post is a part of the Recovery 101 blog series. The series will explore ideas, philosophies, language, tools and questions about mental health recovery. Submit any ideas for topics in the comments section of any tagged post.


Stories of success in mental health recovery often include a moment of inspiration.  An action by a friend or family member, a life event, a misfortune or a random bit of information learned may act as a catalyst to change in an individual's life.  The stories I have heard often describe a change in the individual's thinking which promotes a drive or motivation to recover.  They reframe their thinking.  They gain hope or a positive outlook.  They create a goal for themselves. 

As workers or support figures we are often searching to find this source of inspiration for our clients or friends.  Doubtless mental illness suffers are seeking it for themselves too.

Last week saw Bell Let's Talk day get lots of attention.  I decided not to write about it at the time due to it being a corporate sponsored event, and I don't have much to say about Bell.  The next day however one of my clients talked about watching a TV interview with Let's Talk spokesperson Clara Hughes along with other famous sports figures talking about their experiences with mental illness (depression and PTSD were covered as far as I remember) and how they recovered.  This client himself suffers with depression.  He told me that watching the show made him feel even worse.  He said they each talked about how their spouse or partner helped them get through - he does not have a spouse, and when he did she was more cause for pain than support.  He said they talked about how despite their various successes (Olympic medals, major trophies and awards) they still suffered.  His take?  If he didn't even have these type of awards, how much worse off does that make him?

Not the intended effect of the program I'm sure.  What was meant to inspire in this case, really didn't help. 

On the other hand I have taken clients to hear recovery stories shared by those in their community and they have reported feeling hopeful in their own lives as a result.  One woman I worked with who has bipolar disorder described watching coverage of Charlie Sheen go off the rails as inspiration for her to get better because she "didn't want to end up like that guy".  There are stories of people going to their doctor, support worker, family member and hearing the same message every day until finally "click!" something registered that was their moment of inspiration.

The moment of inspiration does not result in life getting fixed over night.  Things may not look any different for a while.  But down the road, further along the recovery journey it's the moment that someone looks back on and says "that's when everything changed for me.  That's when I knew I could get better." 

It's the moment that makes all the difference.  Because we can be surrounded by the most well-meaning people in the world, all the praise and validation one could ask for.  But if we are suffering inside, true change will not come until we are open to it.  And the key to open the door may come in all kinds of strange and unpredictable forms.

Anything Else to Add?

Check all that apply:

Concurrent Disorder (Substance Abuse)

Dual Diagnosis (Developmental Disability)

Other Chronic Illness and/or physical disabilities

First time I’ve checked ‘em all. Oh yeah, and throw in an Acquired Brain Injury to boot. For a guy diagnosed with Bipolar and PTSD. Actually, truth be told, I'm kind of surprised it took until now.

Dear Random Social Worker,

Thank you for referring your client to us. We would have called you back sooner, but we have only just received the referral form. We likely would have responded more quickly if you had faxed or emailed it as indicated on the top of the form. Instead, you left it sitting out on a desk in our rural office, you know, the one that is only staffed part time, and is shared with another community group? I’m sure your client’s information is safe though since you had the forethought to fold the paper in half. And I guess you couldn’t have known that our staff who works in that office was on vacation for two weeks, so again, our apologies.

Now, I realize that you must be a very busy woman (aren’t we all!) but if it’s not too much trouble, maybe you could take the extra couple of seconds to write in your complete phone number? A bit of information about the client would be helpful too – maybe more than “needs support – monthly visits”.

Oh, and by the way – Primary diagnosis: schizophrenia/bipolar. Well, which is it? I guess the client may have both (poor thing) but then I’m guessing one of those is the secondary diagnosis, and it’s just a little hard to tell which considering how you’ve squished it all into the one little box there.

Well, I hear from your outgoing message that you are out of the office for the next three days (how nice for you!) so I guess I’ll call you back next week.

Ta-ta for now!

Bipolar Rhymes

Had a client rap to me about his hallucinations in an intake assessment yesterday. Twice! I stopped him before he could get up to show me his dance moves.

Bipolar Breakthrough

A little more about this intake from yesterday.

Despite all the crying, the appointment went well. This woman has a lot going on, including being diagnosed with bipolar and PTSD. She seemed to have great insight when describing what she feels is problematic in her life, discussing symptoms, and acknowledging that she feels ready to get help.

Which is why I was surprised when an hour and a half in she says “it’s like I get these real highs, and then I just go so low. Does that have something to do with bipolar?”

Uh, yeah, I say. That pretty much sums it up. We discuss this a little bit more, and she says “you know, now I know what bipolar is. I was diagnosed over a year ago, and I didn’t know what it was. I will remember this as the day I learned what it was all about!” (cue crying episode #47)

WHAT? How is it you go a whole year with this diagnosis, and no one tells you what the bloody word even means? She received this diagnosis from her psychiatrist whom she’s been seeing for about 14 years!

Granted, her psych is a dinosaur who has announced his retirement about 3 times, but has yet to actually leave the building.

Here is a woman with a)great insight b)no cognitive issues c)lots of support d)a willingness to work with the mental health care system. It’s not as though she lacks the capacity to understand. Is this something that only happens to psych patients?