One recovery idea that I occasionally come across is the concern that, maybe, this is as good as it gets. This is a very understandable thing to worry about. Indeed, this is the very idea that a character with an obsessive-compulsive disorder played by Jack Nicohson battled against in a recent film of the same name. I find myself occasionally wondering about it, too.
A brain injury can cause all sorts of problems, problems that require such a different approach to things that used to be so easy, One can start to feel these problems are insurmountable; feel like there's no way "back to" the way you were before; there are no more improvements to be had. Basically, one can worry that this is as good as it gets!
I don't know about obsessive-compulsive disorder, but I do know a little of recovery from traumatic brain injury. While understandable, I think it a very dangerous thing to worry about. The brain is an immensely adaptable piece of equipment. Worrying that things won't get better almost flatly assumes the brain won't learn how to work around whatever problems it comes across. In my humble opinion, assuming that is almost as bad as ruling it out from ever happening. That is, if you want to learn to recover, start by believing that you are actually able to recover.
Yet, feeling this is as good as it gets is still very understandable; when I start thinking it, what do I do about it? Simple, I do my best to keep in mind specific areas of progress I have made, specific times when my brain has learnt about how to work around things. With that, I can convince myself that my brain can work around things. This is definitely not as good as it gets!
Cheers,
Mike
A brain injury can cause all sorts of problems, problems that require such a different approach to things that used to be so easy, One can start to feel these problems are insurmountable; feel like there's no way "back to" the way you were before; there are no more improvements to be had. Basically, one can worry that this is as good as it gets!
I don't know about obsessive-compulsive disorder, but I do know a little of recovery from traumatic brain injury. While understandable, I think it a very dangerous thing to worry about. The brain is an immensely adaptable piece of equipment. Worrying that things won't get better almost flatly assumes the brain won't learn how to work around whatever problems it comes across. In my humble opinion, assuming that is almost as bad as ruling it out from ever happening. That is, if you want to learn to recover, start by believing that you are actually able to recover.
Yet, feeling this is as good as it gets is still very understandable; when I start thinking it, what do I do about it? Simple, I do my best to keep in mind specific areas of progress I have made, specific times when my brain has learnt about how to work around things. With that, I can convince myself that my brain can work around things. This is definitely not as good as it gets!
Cheers,
Mike
1 comment:
There's also the plateau phenomen of learning too - a period of time where apparently you are making no progress, and then suddenly there's a breakthrough. I understand that's common.
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