Thread by @bazzapower

[THREAD] it has been a while since I wanted to have an honest conversation about timelines for recoveries when it comes to mental health. We often see it when we google symptoms or try to educate ourselves about clinical psychology, but it is so misleading and can backfire.

I don’t like giving timelines for recoveries because the complexity of mental health is hard to measure with time. There are too many components that come into play from how long it takes a client to trust their therapist, amount of opening up, environment clients live in, etc...

Those factors will play a big role. Furthermore, some clients may downplay the severity of their symptoms and it may take longer for them to heal. One component that is the biggest wildcard is the environment. Clients spend 1 hour once a week or once every two weeks with us.

The rest of the 167 to 335 hours are spent in their environment. If that environment is abusive, neglecting or contributes in a significant way to what they are experiencing, it will slow down the recovery significantly.

However, we have these timelines that we have to abide by because we are often forced to. Many agencies that provide free therapy have session limits, health insurances only cover a certain number of sessions, workplaces may only give a few days if any for mental health leave.

That leaves those who are the most vulnerable including minorities, women and low income populations in a state where it is hard to get adequate treatment. It is one of the biggest reasons why therapy is still considered something that only the privileged can access.

Given that mental health is a strong component of our ability to concentrate, be productive and motivated, it can make it harder to get promotions or raises and keep individuals who are already vulnerable from improving their quality of life.

These timelines have mainly been researched for white middle class men for the most part and then moulded into a whole system. This system, whose goal is to achieve recovery continues to oppress those who need it most because the blind spots are huge.

The pandemic has also thrown this whole timeline to disarray. Recoveries now take longer because we are stuck at home, because we no longer have jobs or can no longer see our loved ones. Yet, we do not see systems changing to address those increased needs.

Finally, I want to talk about stigma. Guess what happens when we don’t recover by the expected timeline. People start losing their patience. Employers say: “you have gone to therapy, why are you not better?”. Family members and partners start to question our motivation to recover

It is important for us therapists and others within that system to question it and improve it because it is not going to be insurances or others who profit from it who will actually take those steps towards an equitable access to mental health!