Can mental illness really be cured?

Hello there,

This is a non native English speaker and It's my first time to post on an English discussion board. Post here for discussion because most of information I can found online with my own language is translated from English source and also, I can hardly found any active forums related to my problems with my own language.

Since age of 13 to 14, I had a strange sympton that half of my body feel very numb , then my parents took me to hospital but found no reason for this. I thought it was some kind of ghost event that can not be explained. For the following 10 years, I gradually got used to this strange feeling and almost forget the whole thing untill last year, for some anxiety related problems, I started working with a psychological conseller who was trained by an U.S. association for like one year. (Seems in my country, there is little difference between roles of conseller and that of a therapist) I reminded the numbness thing and talked about this. Then, somehow the strange feeling of numbness just came back to me,lilke a ghost that I thought I had already get rid off. The conseller directs me to the phychological department of hospital, then a doctor diagnozed my situation as a dissociative(conversion )disorders and prescribed some medicine for me.

Seems that the medicine is for depression, acutally works well on my insomnia,but did not change anything on my feeling of the numbness. Also, talking with the conseller is a big comfort and relief, however can help little on my numbness.

Now I am very clear that the numbness thing of is more a psychological than physical problem, but I highly doubt if it can be cured by any ways. At the same time, I did not find any similar cases of successful cure. This problem has cause me many other problems and slow me down in my path of studying and career. Will it take another 10 years for me to get used to this again?

Any information related that can direct me is highly appreciated. For any similar cases, please feel free to contact me for discussion. Thank you very much! Sorry if my expression is not organized enough.

I wish I had answers for you but I'm afraid I don't. I do want to welcome you to Psych Central and I hope you find the answers you need

Well, I don't know about 'cured' but some people after receiving or implementing treatment do make a recovery, yes. But just what the exact figures are and how long it may take to recover, I don't know. That's all I can say about that really.

All the best and, yes, welcome to Psych Central.

In general, whether mental illness can be cured depends very much on the disorder. Some disorders have physical or biochemical roots in the brain, whereas others are more psychological and caused by "nurture" rather than "nature."

In your case, if it is dissociation, that's usually indicative of some sort of trauma. In that case, working through the trauma with a therapist may help to alleviate your symptoms more effectively than medication can.

From my own personal experience & observations all the years I have been in treatment(since 1994) I will say it totally depends on the illness.

Mine cropped up in my 40's & it was totally situational along with having never learned good tools to use to care for myself during those situations that happened. They say if you leave a situation & the problem follows at the same extent as before then it is usually something within yourself that needs to be dealt with or is actually a chemical thing going on in the brain that can be managed but not really cured (as in gone forever)

For me, I left, moved 2100 miles away. Things in me immediately started to change. I still needed therapy to help me process what I was learning about my past, myself & my current situation & learn better skills to handle situations like I had been in & then integrate it into my life now. At this point, I no longer struggle like I did & even the PTSD that hit me a couple of years before I left has been processed & no longer bothers me either.

It has been an awesome learning & growing experience starting at the age of 54 (now 67). The psych professionals had no idea what was going on with me while I was living in the situation I couldn't get out of at the time & I had no clue to help them discover how to help me. It was kinda a catch 22 during that time. I had to get away from the situation to view it clearly & the escape was wonderful & freeing from everything (depression, anxiety, anorexia & PTSD)