WHAT DOES 'RECOVERY' MEAN IN MENTAL HEALTH?

RECOVERY

noun; a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.

I'm currently doing a course at work in Understanding Mental Health. Last year I launched a Mental Health at Work guide for my colleagues and always keen to expand my knowledge and be able to do all I can to help others with understanding and dealing with mental health.

One of the sections I have just completed was about what recovery means in terms of mental health and it really got me thinking about what it means for me. 

In October I came off my medication (documented HERE) and in general, I have been doing really good. I don't feel like I have reverted back to how I was pre-medication (a good thing) but I also am aware that I still experience depression and anxiety. August has been quite a tough month in all honesty. I've struggled quite a bit with low mood and I'm so ready for my holiday in a few weeks. I think I've just burnt out. I never usually go this far into the year without time off and I'm feeling it.

However, I also know now that this feeling is going to pass and things are going to be okay.

If I broke my arm I would be considered 'recovered' once that arm was no longer broken. If I had the flu I would be 'recovered' when I no longer had symptoms of flu. So with physical health 'recovery' is returning to how you were before the illness/injury.

With mental health, and specifically mine, I stopped taking medication as I felt I was at a point were I didn't need them anymore and I could manage my mental health without medication. Is this being recovered from mental illness?

I didn't return to my prior state of mind once I stopped taking medication, so by the definition of recovery does this mean I'm not recovered?

"To return to a normal state..." - what is normal is important here too.

Is it normal to experience mental illness? To my mind, it's not not normal. I don't feel abnormal for having experienced depression. And the point of me finally choosing to get help was because I didn't want to be that person anymore. So I certainly didn't want to go back to being that person. If that had have happened (which definitely does happen to some people), I wouldn't have considered myself recovered from mental illness.

When I sought help for my mental health I received medication to manage my symptoms, lift mood and ease anxiety. I also did a couple types of therapy and more recently took up going to the gym and yoga. All that combined got me into a place were my resilience had been built up and enabled me to be able to live everyday life with little disruption. It can be argued that recovery starts as soon as help is sought. From that moment, some control is gained back. Mental health hasn't won that day. And that can be empowering for some. 

I think recovery in terms of mental health is just that. It's about taking control over it. Once that has happened you can start to believe that getting well is possible yet acknowledging that there is probably going to be periods when it feels like mental health is winning. But being okay with that. Being able to accept that mental health exists in me and that sometimes it's going to be in control and win that day is okay. But also knowing that it won't last forever and maybe in a day or a week, or even longer, it won't be in control and I will win, is enough for me to consider myself recovered, or at the very least 'in recovery'. 

I know this current period of depression is going to go eventually. I also know that I'm getting out of bed and washing and going to work and just a few years ago, that wasn't always possible. 

You don't have to have taken medication to class yourself as recovered. You don't need to have gone to therapy in order to 'achieve' recovery. It depends on what it means to you.

What does 'recovery' mean to you, in terms of mental health?