mental health treatment isn't just meds and therapy
I suffered from insomnia around age 8 when my cat hook died, and it has never gone away. I suffered from depression in 7th and 8th grade after my parents separated. I suffered from alcoholism in my teens and early 20s, and weed addiction, and depression and anxiety and loneliness. I still live with mental illness.
The first time I got any form of treatment was when I called the suicide hotline 5 years ago. After that, I started therapy and I've been in therapy ever since (except for a 1 year gap where I struggled to access services. I've been back in therapy for 6 months now).
The first time I mentioned anxiety to my primary care provider (a Nurse Practitioner whom I quite like), she offered me anxiety pills, and I declined. No other treatment was offered. I told her about my struggles, and she said I need them. I declined.
I didn't and don't need them, because medicating mental illness pursues certain goals - work and be normal and live without support - but they are not my goals.
She asked one time why I don't want treatment.
I do want treatment. I just don't want that treatment.
And therapy is not enough.
Scientific studies have shown that mindfulness meditation is as-effective as Lexapro for anxiety. Other studies have shown that time spent outside in the sun has real healing benefits for mental illness. Others have shown that exercise is a real treatment for depression and anxiety.
None of these treatments have ever been offered to me, not once in my life, not by a professional, not by any of my 5 therapists.
Sure, meditation and exercise have been discussed in therapy, but telling me what to do at home, on my own, is not treatment.
Guiding me in a mindfulness practice is treatment. Connecting me with an exercise group is treatment. Finding group social activities is treatment. Helping me afford some kind of access to culture is treatment - because it addresses boredom and loneliness. Making phone calls and doing paperwork for me is treatment - because this shit drains my mental and I often just don't do it.
I asked for some of this treatment recently, and my therapist guided me through two mindfulness meditations. Now she puts on a recording of guided meditations once during each of our sessions. This has been fantastic.
And it is insufficient. I need my therapy time for therapy. I would like another practitioner (solo or group) to dedicate time to mindfulness.
I do go to the gym now, but again it is a solo practice. Support would help.
I'm not opposed to meds. I am a proponent of providing all of the treatment options. I am a proponent of mindfulness and exercise, of socialization, of support. These are real treatments for mental illness (at least anxiety and depressive disorders). But these treatments need to be administered by professionals and people in our lives. We often cannot do them alone, and we should not have to.
Our doctors should discuss such options with us and direct us toward resources. Medication should be an option, not the option. And therapy is great, but it's not enough.