Contrary to the notion that recovery from some mental illnesses is impossible, research shows that many people can fully recover and lead fulfilling lives. While many individuals may experience mental health problems at some point in their lives, the historical stigma around the issue has led to misunderstanding. Sufferers have sometimes been labelled as lazy or weak and stigma has led to suggestions that recovery from mental illnesses is rare or almost unachievable.
Yet, these ideas, showing that some conditions are not inherently chronic and for many, there is hope for recovery. “In the public, there are a lot of negative stereotypes that once people get something like depression or a lot of other mental health conditions, people think you can't recover or get better from them,” Andrew Devendorf, clinical psychologist and researcher at the University of South Florida, told Euronews Health. “There's this stereotype that recovery from mental health problems is impossible, and that's not true according to the data that we're finding and also the studies that we're doing,” he added.
In psychiatry, mental illness is recognised via the symptoms exhibited by a person, so recovery is also closely tied to these symptoms. “These conditions are defined by a certain criteria of symptoms, and for a certain period of time, and once people no longer have those symptoms over a period of time, then they would be considered recovered,” Devendorf said. However, Devendorf emphasise.