So back to the idea of "can we shift from a mindset of "illness" to one of "wellness"...
Part of making that shift from "illness" to "wellness" mindset was choosing to see "diagnosis" and "symptoms" as something I can learn to change vs. seeing these labels as something I "have"...and I have no control over or power to change.
In talking with others I've noticed how they, like me in the past, talk about their mental wellness - or lack of it - as though it is a "thing".
And while it's true that this is the message we've been getting since Bill W. called alcoholism a "disease of the mind"...I found that in owning this message I was left feeling very dis-empowered. Or if you've been around for awhile, you may notice this is an idea that falls under that concept of "feeling powerless" (click to listen to what I said about "powerless" on BTR)
I felt powerless to change because I viewed my coping mechanisms of "acting out"; irritability, anger, aggression, hyper-vigilance ie the "lashing out" at the world and others - as well as the "acting in"; depression, dissociation, insomnia aka the "self harming" behaviors -as related to this "diagnosis" that told me that I had some "genetic" mutation in my genes that made it impossible to change"it" or the behaviors related to it.
By "buying into" the idea that my emotional and cognitive distress was something I "had" ie "I HAVE (fill in the blank with whatever your "diagnosis" or "symptom" is)..."
I was left feeling as though I had no power to change my life because that is what I had been told by the providers of...and is the "standard of care" in the biological, genetic, medical, disease model of mental health issues.
It was hard letting go of this paradigm of "care"...
I mean....come on; these guys are the "doctors", the "providers".....
Yes; but they are not "god".
And I gave them 15 years of my life to "fix me"....
But I found "wellness" when I gave up "illness" as my chosen "paradigm".
Next time....a look at what is a "paradigm" in the sciences....
Q: How have you claimed your own power recently?
