Medication is not a cure

Medication is not a cure for mental health. 

This is such a common miss conception among people. In general, people seem to think that if a person is taking medication for their mental illness they should no longer be struggling; which I can tell you could not be further from the truth. 

What medication actually does is give us people suffering a chance to feel in control of our minds and a way to cope with an illness that can otherwise be extremely destructive. 

People fail to understand that those with mental health conditions have these struggles because they have a chemical imbalance in their brain and a chemical imbalance can never be cured. The role of medication is to rebalance the levels in order to provide more stability. This is just the same as people with diabetes, who inject themselves with insulin in order to stay alive.

I had my own personal battle with medication and it took me a long time to accept that I was going to have to take it for the rest of my life because to me it felt like a personal failure. The perception people have is medication = a weak person and we're all lead to believe that those taking medication for mental health are taking the easy option to recovery.

When I first started my medication I use to hate them so much that every time I was about to take them I'd just repeat "I don't want to take this, I don't want to take this, I don't want to take this". It took me a long time but I eventually started to realise having this attitude was working against me and actually making me more unwell.

I finally started to realise that I genuinely would not be alive if it wasn't for my medication. When I wasn't using it my moods would be uncontrollable and the suicidal thoughts became stronger than I. I knew at this point I had to start taking my medication seriously if I was ever going to have a chance to have a good life. 

It took me around two years but I finally learnt to understand that taking my medication wasn't me failing and I wasn't a weak person for needing it. I managed to reach a point where I wasn't ashamed anymore and I'm now more than happy to speak openly about needing it and what it does for me. 

I still live with bipolar on a daily basis, whether it is in minor or major ways it still always affects me and that's living with and using a medication, so for anyone who still thinks medication is a cure, you seriously need to educate yourself. 

The other problem we have is that people fail to realise medication actually brings about a whole heap of problems in themselves. I suffer from so many side effects that can sometimes be just as hard to deal with as my condition and alongside that, I still have to put in a lot of work to be able to live the life that I do today. 

I hope by more people sharing their stories we can finally beat this stigma mental health still carries and people can have a better understanding of the role medication has and how antidepressants are not just happy pills.

So for anyone reading this post who uses medication to control their condition, please never, ever feel ashamed for taking something which you make better. A person with a physical condition would never feel that way so why should you?! You deserve to live a happy and successful life, by choosing medication you allow yourself to do that and for that, I'm proud of you.