I seek examples of people overcoming mental illness

[Nightwise]

Hello.

Currently I'm really struggling. One of the things I found really difficult to come across is that some people say that mental illnesses never truly go away, only that there are phases of stability. I myself have so far suffered from phases where there is a lot of darkness. I seek some counter evidence that I don't have to come to believe in the notion that I would be a victim to mental illness or something like that, that it is something that can be overcome or at the very least you can create tools to much better handle any possible breakdown.

One example that I know of is Justin Furstenfeld from Blue October. Do you guys have any more people to recommend in this regard, people who have suffered from mental illnesses for a longer time and have found the capacity to turn their lives around. I seek context, (auto)biographies, videos, stories and the like to be able to convince my mind of different perspectives, different possibilities and so forth

 

 

[Enlightenment]

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Prognosis

If left untreated, a typical major depressive episode may last for about six months. About 20% of these episodes can last two years or more. About half of depressive episodes end spontaneously. However, even after the major depressive episode is over, 20% to 30% of patients have residual symptoms, which can be distressing and associated with disability.[7] Fifty percent of people will have another major depressive episode after the first.[15] However, the risk of relapse is decreased by taking antidepressant medications for more than 6 months.[15]

Kenneth Folk was very depressed for ~5 years

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Fast forward to 1990, eight years after my first unitive experience. My depression had returned. I made my living as a bass player in a dance rock band. Sometimes I would find myself onstage in front of a hundred people, on the verge of tears for no reason that I could name. I couldn’t play music anymore. I quit the band in North Carolina, where I had moved two years earlier to pursue my musical career, and moved back to Southern California. I promised myself I would never again perform music for money. All I wanted to do was meditate. My most cherished fantasy involved checking myself into a cave in the Himalayas and living as a monk for the rest of my life.

 

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"Ok, so that was a bit of a digression. Now, we go back to, I’m claiming that I had attained Third Path. So, now, we’re talking about the mid-90’s through the early 2000’s, and I was really depressed during this time. So I had access to all kinds of remarkable mind states, all these jhanas, and yet, my life was in a shambles, my brain chemistry was scrambled. I was taking Prozac and whatever antidepressants seemed to work best. I tried several. I was taking an anti-anxiety drug at night, in a very low dose, but I couldn’t sleep at night. So, here I am, you’d think that, according to all of the legends about what an Anagami is, a Third Path practitioner, I should have been really together, and I wasn’t.”

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I walked back into my little trailer in the desert and wrote on the calendar, “I see the elephant.” This was a reference to the parable of the blind men and the elephant. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant] I’d been able to see parts of the puzzle before, but now it came together. I saw the elephant. My depression went away. I weaned myself off of antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication over a period of several months. I stopped having trouble sleeping. It does not happen this way for everyone, but this is what happened to me.

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After my New Mexico retreat, I drove to Barre, MA, and worked at Insight Meditation Society on and off for about a year and a half in the maintenance and IT departments. Almost immediately after arriving at IMS, I met my wife, Beth, who worked in the retreat center as a cook. My chronic depression, which had left me dysfunctional for months at a time throughout my adult life, was gone, and I no longer felt the need to subordinate everything else to my spiritual quest.

 

[Mu_]

1 hour ago, Nightwise said:

Hello.

Currently I'm really struggling. One of the things I found really difficult to come across is that some people say that mental illnesses never truly go away, only that there are phases of stability. I myself have so far suffered from phases where there is a lot of darkness. I seek some counter evidence that I don't have to come to believe in the notion that I would be a victim to mental illness or something like that, that it is something that can be overcome or at the very least you can create tools to much better handle any possible breakdown.

One example that I know of is Justin Furstenfeld from Blue October. Do you guys have any more people to recommend in this regard, people who have suffered from mental illnesses for a longer time and have found the capacity to turn their lives around. I seek context, (auto)biographies, videos, stories and the like to be able to convince my mind of different perspectives, different possibilities and so forth

 

 

Hi NIghtwise,

Just to clarify when you say mental illness do you mean something clinically diagnosed like schizophrenia or bi-polar vs feelings of darkness, mood and emotional swings of various intensities?

[Michael569]

Most mental health diseases can be cured or at least managed life-long really well but it is often a bit more difficult than regular physiological diseases because of the sheer complexity of human brain in comparison to other organs and tissues. The only ones that are currently irreversible are those where there was a loss of living tissue and death of brain cells like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and similar ones. Ofcourse those where there was alteernation to DNA or inherited mutation are also incurable such as various forms of retardation and inherited diseases.  

The ones like Schisophrenia or Bipolar can be managed pretty well usually through a combination of lifestyle and mental health therapies. 

Depression, Anxieties can mostly be cured or managed really well but it is not always easy and can take a while depending on the cause. 

Lot of common mental conditions are actually caused by poor lifestyle choices, toxicity, heavy meal overload, chronic unmanaged stress and other factors. 

It is always a good idea to work on investigating the cause with a specialist rather than just accepting the label "incurable". Health is the natural state of the human body. 

[Mu_]

These might be inspirational and within what your looking for.

 

This one is not so much mental illness, although he may have had one due to being raped and beaten as a kid and put in prison falsely for 20 years, hes an incredible inspiration that should put any of your life issue in perspective.

 

If I find more I'll post them.  But depression and anxiety disorders run in my family and I definitely have felt this in myself to various and life effecting degree's for years.  I've been able to overcome a great degree of this.

[Artsu]

Plenty of people overcome mental illness.

You don't actually believe the mental health system do you?

[Harmony342]

You may find some so-called mental illnesses just stem from some root cause that is more physiological than psychological. Look into any potential health problems that might be causing your issues first.

I had severe depression and anxiety for the last few years which was caused by heavy metal toxicity, so never lose hope, there may be a solution for you

[Soulbass]

 

[Opo]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Paul_Schreber

[Lyubov]

Sorry to hear you are suffering. I've been feeling depressed on and off this month myself. I think the term mental illness is overused. Any unpleasent emotion is labeled as mental illness. It is most definitely possible to get to a place where one has achieved emotional mastery. 

[Lyubov]

15 hours ago, Harmony342 said:

You may find some so-called mental illnesses just stem from some root cause that is more physiological than psychological. Look into any potential health problems that might be causing your issues first.

I had severe depression and anxiety for the last few years which was caused by heavy metal toxicity, so never lose hope, there may be a solution for you

How did you treat this or test for it? I eat a ton of processed foods and am looking to clean up my diet to see how it affects my mood. 

[Gesundheit]

I've struggled with depression for a very long time. I've been depressed for about 10 years now and thought it ended with my enlightenment two years ago. The reality is that I'm still depressed, only my mood has improved significantly. The main symptoms I'm struggling with currently are cynicism, nihilism, and lack of motivation. I don't struggle with them emotionally. I'm completely detached, but that's the problem. Since I'm detached, I can't solve these problems cuz they don't even feel like real problems. I'm literally stuck but I don't feel threatened at all. My mind says that I should do this and that, but my heart does not agree.