There is an undeniable fact about all mental health disorders alike: there is no cure. Instantaneously, such a statement causes a spike of anxiety, a churn of the stomach, and a flurry of negative, fear driven thinking. Why should we go to treatment, spend our time, money, energy into healing, if there is no cure? Depression has no cure. Alcoholism has no cure. Many mental health disorders have no real “cure”. That is, according to how most people see the word cure.
We hear about the searches for varying cures. On television they advertise the cure for a bad back, the cure for acne, the cure for “unsightly” and “unwanted” “fat”. In the medical world they search for a cure for cancer, illness, and disease. Politically people search for the cure for world hunger and to end foreign conflict. Fictional narratives, utopic and dystopic alike, illustrate the existence of varying worldly ailments and follow the spartan warrior-esque fight for the “cure”. We fight for the cure because we see the cure as an end-all. Once we find the cure, the fight is over. The cure will eradicate all necessity for effort because there won’t be any fighting left to do. A cure doesn’t just eliminate the symptoms of a problem. Cures terminate the problem all together as if the problem never existed. However, that isn’t what cure really means. At least, not entirely.
According to Merriam-Webster, “a complete or permanent solution or remedy” is part of the definition for cure. Number three of four primary definitions, though, it ranks low on the significance of meanings. Before comes “recovery or relief from a disease” and “a course or period of treatment”. Recovery is used in relation to cure uncoincidentally. To recover is to “get back” or “to bring back to a normal position” which explains why it is practically synonymous with cure. Going to treatment, spending the time, money, and energy to create a lifestyle of recovery, is to work actively toward getting back to a ‘normal’ position of health in mind, body, and spirit. Recovery is a cure in that it is a course of treatment. More importantly, recovery is relief from a disease. Recovery is not a cure in that it does not completely solve or permanently solve the disease of alcoholism, the disease of addiction, or various mental health disorders.
Though we “fight” to stay sober, we “fight” for our recovery, and we “fight” to find a cure, we ultimately fight a battle for which there is no end- until science proves otherwise. What we have every single day is an opportunity to live in recovery, to live in the cure and live with our diseases, disorders, and illnesses. We may not find the cure, but we can be the cure. By regularly participating in the many evidence-based practices which are proven to relieve us from symptoms and even put us into long term remission, we can be in ongoing recovery- be in an ongoing cure. The problem itself may never truly go away. As long as we continue to treat it, through programs and through the daily lifestyle of living in recovery, we continue to be in the cure. We continue to be in the solution. As men and women of recovery, we are the cure. We’re living proof of the cure. We don’t have to fight for it. We just live it and we keep living it, every day, one day at a time.
You can learn to live in peace, in health, and in recovery. The Guest House Ocala offers you a private and remote estate with luxury residence and concierge style care. Welcoming anyone seeking recovery from traumas, addiction, and related mental or behavioral issues, our programs are customized to best serve your unique needs and goals.
Call us today for information: 1-352-812-2780