Can you recover from mental illness?

While there isn't really a “cure” for mental illness yet, people can and do get better with help and treatment (and sometimes even without).

The most important thing is to get help. It’s important to note that medical treatment is a stepping-stone to wellness, not a cure. Most people combine good medical care with their own coping methods.

Most people now believe that in order to successfully deal with and recover from mental illness, you have to take into account several things, including:
Biological influences
t things like general health and medical treatment
Psychosocial influences t things like a person’s outlook, their friends and family
Socioeconomic influences t things like income, employment, and housing.


Because all of these different influences play an important role in helping people get over mental illness, it’s important that everyone has access to:

appropriate medical treatment, including medication and other kinds of therapy

support from people like friends and family

enough income, a decent place to live, and something meaningful to do (like school or work)

Some people will just get ill once, but others will be at risk of getting ill again. Today many people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness talk about how they have been able to put the illness in perspective and get on with their life. Although some symptoms may remain at times, this experience of "recovery" brings new hope to teens who are experiencing mental illness for the first time.
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