Many mental health resources and services start from a place of assuming you’re going to manage mental illness symptoms. If that’s what’s accessible to you and what fits with your goals, there is nothing wrong with that at all. But if you want to ditch the diagnosis and leave it behind, that’s also a thing that’s very doable. It does involve making big changes.
When Toolkit’s Head Coach, Mark Freeman, was first connecting with OCD support groups online after going to therapy, he was surprised how focused everything was on just having the symptoms. The “support” was all about how to practice OCD and sustain the mental illness struggles instead of sustaining the changes and healthier skills. There was nobody talking about recovery. A lot of mental health resources still take that approach, which can probably leave people wondering if recovery is possible. Here’s how he responds to that question: