Road to Recovery

“Mom, the doctor says I am in remission.” I had no idea what these words meant. This was the beginning of a conversation nine months ago, that I never expected to have with my son or anyone else for that matter. Remission and recovery were magic words that we talked about but I never really expected them to be real. Ten years ago, when Josh was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, we had talked about it being a goal, but I don’t think I ever really let myself think of it as a reality.
These days’, people are talking about recovery and remission from mental illness. This is a great step forward.
Remission aims for the virtual elimination of a person’s symptoms and restoration of a person’s quality of life at home, at work and in the community. A person achieves remission when symptoms are absent for at least six months according to professionals who focus on a recovery strategy.
As with other illnesses such as cancer or diabetes, the early detection of mental disorders greatly increases the chances that an individual will receive treatment and experience a better quality of life. In other words, the earlier the treatment plan begins, the better the odds are at for a higher rate of recovery.
An untreated mental disorder can lead to a more severe, more difficult to treat illness, and to the development of co-occurring disorders, with more severe symptoms, occurring more often.
Hearing from a mental health professional that recovery is an achievable goal can make a tremendous difference in a person’s approach to treatment and success. Hearing from family and loved ones that it is achievable and even more so, has been achieved makes it seem real and attainable.
One thing that NAMI Texas has accomplished to move our members forward on the road to remission and recovery is to have written another curriculum. This education program, Great Minds Think Alike, is written for teens and can be taught by adults AND teens who are involved in a recovery program. The best leader of all is one who leads by example.
Great Minds Think Alike, GMTA aims at two distinctive goals. To helps teens to recognize and understand their illness and then to set a goal of recovery and how to plan for a successful recovery.
It is a cornerstone belief of NAMI TX that ALL children and youth should have every opportunity to find success in their daily lives. This is often not the case for children and youth with mental health needs. The barriers these young people face frequently prevent them from recognizing even the smallest of success. GMTA is a program that will enable youth to have a better understanding of what success can look like, and how to achieve their own success.
Everyone needs to know that serious mental illness is not necessarily a life-long diagnosis -- a person can recover and enjoy a full and productive life at work and at home, with episodes of illness progressively tapering off. Does this mean there is a cure? No and there is no vaccine either. But managed symptoms, healthy life styles and achieving a quality of life is really all that any of us wants and expects, isn’t it?
For more information on GMTA and other NAMI Texas programs, email Deborah Rose at dcr@namitexasvft.com.