According to the DSM-5, the official bible of mental illnesses, ALL mental disorders are incurable. The text does not say this directly, instead it suggests we:

improve understanding, reduce stigma, and advance the treatment and eventual cures for these conditions *

“eventual cures” In the view of the DSM-5, no cures exist for any mental disorder. Not one. The previous edition, DSM-4 1987, and  DSM-3 1980 do not contain the word “cure”. (If any previous edition does – I would love to know about it.)

Why are there, officially, no cures for any mental disorder? By design, although perhaps the design is not intentional?

By design, if a mental disorder is cured, it wasn’t a mental disorder.

How can this be? We know people have been cured of mental illnesses. Depression used to be, according to many medical references, easily cured over time in most cases. Today, depression is often cured, but the cured are ignored by the medical professions. Bipolar is often cured. The cured are ignored by the medical bureaucracies. Alcoholism can be cured – but few recognize a cure when it occurs. It is possible to cure anxiety, but not possible to prove it has been cured. Remission is possible. Cures? Not possible.

Why Are No Mental Cures Recognized?

An illness cured by addressing the cause. Healing is often necessary. A basic cure requires identification and addressing the cause. But, with a mental disorder, it is not possible to address the cause. The (unstated) definition of a mental disorder excludes cures.

It is not possible to diagnose CURED for any mental disorder.

Let’s look at some simple cases of depression, bipolar, anxiety, or mania – mental illnesses that are often cured.

We can cause signs and symptoms of mental illness with malnutrition. When a person is starved of certain nutrients like essential oils, vitamins, even proteins – it causes mental illness. We can cure these patients with a healthy diet.

There’s just one small problem. It wasn’t a mental disorder. Even if it was diagnosed as depression, it wasn’t depression. Depression is incurable. It was malnutrition

We can cause signs and symptoms of mental illnesses with poisons. Mercury causes madness. Many drugs and medicines are poisonous. The cure is to remove the poison, there’s just one problem. If we cured it, it wasn’t depression, or mania, it was poisoning. The diagnosis was wrong.

We can cause anxiety, depression, or mania with physical, mental, or social abuse. We cure them by addressing the cause, but — there’s just one small problem. If we cured it by addressing the abuse, it was abuse, anxiety, not depression, not mania. The diagnosis was wrong.

Severe Chronic Mental Illness

We can create very serious, long term compound chronic mental illness with poor nutrition, combined with toxic drugs and physical and mental and social abuse. If we maintain over several months, the disorder is chronic. We might even cause irreversible (incurable) damage by extending the duration or severity, caused by failure to cure.

We can cure by addressing the causes. Of course it will take some time, and considerable healing will be required. But… We can cure.

There’s just one problem. Mental disorders are incurable. If it was cured, it wasn’t a mental illness. Not only that, chronic diseases are also incurable. If a chronic disease is cured, the diagnosis was wrong.

If it was cured by addressing the cause, then it wasn’t a mental disorder, it was caused by the cause, and is named by the cause. Depression caused by malnutrition is not depression, it’s malnutrition. Bipolar caused by malnutrition isn’t bipolar disorder, it’s malnutrition. Anxiety caused by addressing the cause – wasn’t real.

Therefore: No mental disorder can be cured. We can treat mental disorders with medicines that diminish signs and symptoms, with medicines that do not, cannot cure.

Mental Illnesses are only Cured by Health

Maybe you noticed, or maybe not. None of the above cures for any mental illness were medicines.  None were drugs.  Drugs can cause mental illness, but they cannot cure. Health is the best cure, the only true cure. Healthy diets, healthy activities.  Healthy communities. Medicines can help us to deal with our illness, but cannot cure.

Mental illnesses can be cured and proven cured. But to cure, we need to study health and cures.

The book the Elements of Cure defines the basic types of cure for every illness, including all mental disorders.

An illness is cured when:

1. The cause has been successfully addressed.
2. Healing, if necessary, has completed.
3. Signs and symptoms of the illness have faded away.
4. No more medicines are necessary.

The current models of mental illness are based on the concept of medicines that treat mental illnesses – making no attempt to cure, cured being not defined. As a result, the DSM-5, and previous editions, have no ability to recognize a cure when it occurs.

to your health, tracy
Author: The Elements of Cure

* DSM-5 Full Quote “Many health professionals and educational groups have been involved in the development and  testing of DSM-5 including physicians, psychologists, social workers, nurses, counsellors, epidemiologists, statisticians, neuroscientists, and neuropsychologists. Finally, patients, families, lawyers, consumer organizations, and advocacy groups have all participated in revising DSM-5 by providing feedback on the mental disorders described in this volume. Their monitoring of the descriptions and explanatory text is essential to improve understanding, reduce stigma, and advance the treatment and eventual cures for these conditions.“