Venting Does anyone else get irritated hearing about mental health success stories?

[Rustysoupcan]

I get irritated when people say "oh therapy is amazing, I went for 6 months and it changed my life!!". Like Im glad they found it useful, but it makes me irritated because I've been in therapy for many years and have tried many meds and I'm only getting worse. Everyone makes it sounds like if you just talk to someone all your problems go away. Anytime I ask for advice on how to handle depression, they say therapy and meds, and when I say I've already tried that for years, I dont get a response. And then professionals wonder why I am so hopeless with my life even though I'm relatively young.... maybe its because I have no future!!! Its a daily struggle to get myself to eat, I only shower about once a week and that's only because I have a job where people can smell me. If I cant even do basic things, there is no hope for going to college and getting a nice job. I dont enjoy anything so there is no point in traveling or doing anything "fun". It just seems like no one outside of this site understand that, and they think if you just go to therapy long enough your mental illness disappears. I'm just sick of it.

 

[GenesAndEnvironment]

I agree with this. Taking SSRIs made me a danger to society and I will never consume the demon pills again. Therapy is a complete joke, they just tell you to take a walk or try to offer emotional support. If therapy works then a friend or browsing self-improvement blogs would work as well.

 

[Gonjoolie]

Yep I feel the same way. Why can't I get better like them? Is there something fundamentally wrong with my psyche? Am I just destined to kill myself? Shit sucks man

 

[EmbraceOfTheVoid]

Yes, because those stories are often from normies who already had the ability and resources to help themselves with their generic and temporary problems.

Let me know how 6 months of placebo therapy will "cure" you when you are homeless or if your father beat you your entire childhood.

 

[WornOutLife]

Oh yeah, I kinda do because therapy has never worked for me.
The only think that worked, were some pills I'm taking now. (Most of them didn't work but this one hit the spot)

I've realized the best therapy is reading and sharing experiences here on SS and also talking to yourself lol.

 

[BornofDust]

While I'm happy that they got the help. This unfortunately creates this situation here people think that stuff like our situation can be quickly fixed with just opening your emotions and taking a walk. While not understanding that the negativity and emptiness within usually takes years to even deal with, much less " fix." Also these stories sound a lot like Survivors Bias and the Work Hard fallacy that a lot of people like to follow nowadays, even though these types of people are few and far between.

Ever since my horrible encounters with my mental health counselors and basically being bullied and belittled by one of them, I'm really hesitant to see a therapist even though I know that its one of the main things I need to fully help myself. So I've been trying other methods instead with varying success.

 

[Stroopwafel.]

Yes I totally feel the same way. I've tried so many things, at this very moment I'm in a specialized hospital and I still feel like shit every single day. My depression does not improve at all. This kinda was my last hope and right now I feel like I'm running out of options other than CTB.

 

[x~Sophia~x]

I think most of these 'success stories' involve people who have circumstantial depression rather than clinical depression. I've been depressed for as long as I can remember and I've had group therapy countless times as well as 1 2 1 therapy, on top of 28 years of different antidepressants, and nothing works. I seem to be getting more withdrawn and depressed as I'm getting older. But someone who sufferers from depression due to a traumatic event, if it's the first time they've been depressed, 12 weeks of counselling or CBT and an antidepressant alongside, should soon get them back to their 'normal'. Lucky them eh!

 

[LunarPyotr]

For me, if someone would say that to me, I would immediately think about one of those "snowball system" ad's where one guy says that he earned xxx$ in 2 weeks and xxxx$ in "just 4 weeks".
Every human is different and saying something like "they will definitely help you" or "You'll be fine there" just would make me question everything and not really trust them.

 

[kitch]

The glowing recovery stories are from "Depression Lite" sufferers .

I'm not saying they aren't suffering ... it's just not embedded and habituated.

For myself Depression was a symptom ... it was "The Freeze" , instead of fighting or flight-ing , I FROZE.

That's my take on it anyway ... combine with that Dysthymia (sp) and Anhaedonia (sp) vibe where "pleasure" in 'accepted'
pleasurable / rewarding activity was hampered / poisoned.

For me , it's been a re-evaluation of childhood processes and what happened , how I created my role / niche in the world.
Very confusing and confronting and it took a while and I'm not done yet . Maybe just beginning to forgive myself and show myself some compassion ... ? It's been a long time.

It's difficult to "be with it" ... it's so bloody horrible , all I wanted to do was PRETEND IT'S NOT HAPPENING (denial denial denial ). We have a famous "depression lite" depression recovery advocate where I live and it's really bloody irritating !

Don't beat yourself up about these folk that FUNDAMENTALLY do NOT get it !

even therapists don't get it ! ( I think it's a natural byproduct of "Civilization" these days ... us human organism's just aren't evolved for this way of life ... )

( I'm not out of the woods yet ... it's still haunting / taunting / debilitating me ... it's maybe as I'm older now it's getting refocused slightly . It's a different beast for everyone I think , and everyone is in a different relationship to "IT" than everyone else . )

 

[Moonomyth]

Yes and no. Depends on if the person is being descriptive of their experience or trying to prescribe it to me.

I can acknowledge that success stories work for other people, and be glad for them. It's when those stories are transplanted onto me as if it is the first time I've heard such advice that it's exhausting. It's much the same result as hearing the same platitudes from crisis centers and such.

 

[EmbraceOfTheVoid]

and also talking to yourself lol.

Are you sure that's not just another mental illness?

 

[WornOutLife]

Are you sure that's not just another mental illness?

Well, even if it is, it works better than my ex therapist lol.

 

[Symbiote]

I don't mind success stories until the same person starts to give advice without knowing what the person that they're giving to, history. There's been plenty of instances where a person overcame their depression and anxiety by just working out and bulking up. Well you can't use the same method on someone that is physically disabled and claim as the ultimate cure-all.

The worst are those who overcame their mental illness, starts a blog/website, and then charges others to access their solutions even though you could find it anywhere freely on Reddit or online. They all tend to be the kind of people they swore they'll never be - jackasses.

 

[Rustysoupcan]

I think most of these 'success stories' involve people who have circumstantial depression rather than clinical depression. I've been depressed for as long as I can remember and I've had group therapy countless times as well as 1 2 1 therapy, on top of 28 years of different antidepressants, and nothing works. I seem to be getting more withdrawn and depressed as I'm getting older. But someone who sufferers from depression due to a traumatic event, if it's the first time they've been depressed, 12 weeks of counselling or CBT and an antidepressant alongside, should soon get them back to their 'normal'. Lucky them eh!

It seems like a lot of these stories come from people who have never learned about psychology, and like you said its their first time in therapy learning about it. I've been depressed all my life as I can remember, and in my early teens I took a deep dive into the internet reading all about mental illness and how to recover and just learning as much as I could to get better. And I tried, so hard, but nothing works because none of that stuff is designed for people with life long depression. There have been many times I tried the traditional stuff of eating right and exercising and all that, but it never worked. Now I dont try too hard to improve things, and then professionals see that and think im just lazy and dont really want to get better. Because I'm not recovering means its automatically my fault.

Yep I feel the same way. Why can't I get better like them? Is there something fundamentally wrong with my psyche? Am I just destined to kill myself? Shit sucks man

I feel the same. I've tried everything short of shock therapy, and every professional makes me feel like it's my fault. It's like they cant accept that some people just will not recover. Then I express my feelings of being terminally mentally ill and destined to kill myself, and it's always "that's not true, there are lots of options :)". Like hello, are you forgetting that I already tried these options???

People will compare depression to physical illness like heart disease or diabetes or even cancer, and it's like they forget that those diseases actually kill people, some people dont heal from that, just like depression. But they never want to talk about that, they think everyone can be saved.

 

[Nexey]

They're often misleading. People who overcome "depression" from a few months of therapy were likely never clinically mentally ill in the first place.

Also... life is a roller coaster. Sure, things get better. But they also get worse. And then better again. And then worse again. Just because someone feels good now, doesn't mean they won't experience a mind break ten years down the line. You'll be fighting until the day you die.

 

[http-410]

I can understand you very well, OP. From your lines I sense frustration. You're not alone.

When I hadn't completely given up hope, I read success stories on reddit and other forums, tried the tips that were suggested. I tried a lot of things on my own before (sports, diet, supplements, drugs, therapy), but my psyche remains broken.

I wouldn't say that these stories irritate me, but reading them reinforce my despair and hopelessness. They show me that everything I've tried and am still trying is useless. Even when I read that users have dropped their plans to end themselves and get their lives together, I feel kind of... alone? Or like a failure. Of course, it's good for everyone who doesn't feel forced to end their lives. It's only healthy not to have to deal with suicide all the time. But it shows me how lost I am.

Anyway, I've stopped reading recovery stories, or at least for the most part I've stopped doing so.