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- Hey everybody, today
we're gonna talk about

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mental illnesses and whether
they're curable or not.

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But before we jump into that,
are you new to my channel?

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Welcome! I am a licensed therapist

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making mental health videos

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and I release them on
Monday's and on Thursday's.

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So make sure you have your
notifications turned on

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so that you don't miss out.

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But now, let's hop into today's topic.

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Many people with mental
health issues of any kind

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want to know if they're
struggle is curable.

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And for good reason.

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If we feel terrible week after
week, we're gonna wanna know

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that there is an end to what we feel

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and that it won't come back, ever.

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Now, in order to answer this question,

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I first have to describe to you

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the difference between mental
health and mental illness

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because it's in that differentiation

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that we will find the
answer to our question.

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Now, mental health is
something that we all have.

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Just like we all have a
physical health, right?

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We can have days where we
feel on top of the world,

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you know, checking so many
things off of our to-do list,

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meeting with friends, feeling fulfilled

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and just really good.

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And overall, just know, that
mental health is defined,

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'cause I always like to
define terms first, right?

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Mental health is defined as a
persons condition with regard

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to their psychological
and emotional wellbeing.

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If we are taking care of
ourselves best we can,

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you know, we're taking
breaks when we need them,

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making time for the things
that we enjoy, et cetera,

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et cetera, we should have a
pretty good mental health.

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We should feel pretty good, be
able to manage all we need to

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each and every day and overall feel happy.

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Mental illness, on the
other hand, is like,

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when we catch a cold.

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You know, first you can start
to feel a little extra tired,

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then maybe our nose starts to run

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and then maybe we get a
cough and before you know it,

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you're laid up in bed wishing
you had taken advantage

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of all the time you
had when you were well.

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That's not just me, right?

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I'm constantly feeling like that,

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where when I finally am sick

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and I just have to lay on the couch,

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I'm like, man, I should
have got so much done

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when I was feeling good.

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Maybe it's just me though.

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Well, anyways, you have caught an illness.

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It is taking over your body
and you aren't able to do

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all that you need to do.

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You have to rest, you
have to take your medicine

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and you have to take care of yourself

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until you feel better, right?

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Mental illness is just the same.

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I mean, no, you aren't gonna
catch it from someone else,

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don't get any ideas, but
it does creep in slowly,

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make us feel a little
different than we normally do,

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and finally make it
impossible for us to do

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all that we need to each and every day.

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And mental illness impairs our ability

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to function in our daily life

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but with proper treatment
we can manage the symptoms

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so that we can go back to living our life.

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And again, just like a cold,

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if we don't take care
of ourselves, you know,

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when you aren't sleeping
enough, you're working too much,

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you're more susceptible to catching a cold

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and the same goes for our mental health.

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If we don't take care of ourselves,

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do the things that we need to do

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in order for us to feel good,

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our mental health can
become a mental illness.

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Does that make sense?

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If not, in short, mental
illnesses aren't curable

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but we can take steps to keep
our mental health in check

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so that the bad way we
feel doesn't come back.

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Or at least won't stay as
long as it did last time.

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Just like if we're physically sick

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and we take some days off, we
sleep a lot, we drink water,

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and give our body time to heal,
we won't stay sick as long

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as we would if we kept pushing
our body to do more and more.

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And if you wanna know
more about this difference

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and how you can care
for your mental health,

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pick up my book, it's called,

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Are U Ok?: A Guide to Caring
for Your Mental Health

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and it's available now through
the link in the description.

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I talk all about this.

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Now, the last thing that I want to do

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is I wanna address neuroplasticity.

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Now, if you don't know, neuroplasticity is

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the ability of the brain to form

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and reorganize synaptic connections,

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especially in response to learning

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or experience or following an injury.

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Which really just means that, yes,

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you can teach an old dog new tricks.

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And yes, our brains can heal and change.

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And it's really the whole
reason that therapy works.

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And I wanted to end by
talking about neuroplasticity

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because it can offer some hope

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when we can feel like it's
never gonna get better.

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Research on many
different mental illnesses

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from Borderline Personality
Disorder to Depression

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show that if we take care
of our mental health,

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like, we're taking medication

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if it's part of our treatment plan,

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and we're working to use all the tools

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that we're learning in therapy,

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our brain can rearrange the connections

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so that we no longer have the
mental illness we had before.

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Like it slowly moves things over

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to accommodate all the new behaviors

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and communication skills you're tying out.

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Sure, it's hard at first because it's new,

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it's not comfortable
but it does get easier.

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And if you've been watching
me for a long time,

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you may remember how I
talked about the brain

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as if it was a balloon filled with sand.

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And when our brain sends
a signal to have us react

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or act in a certain way, it
rolls a marble over that sand

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and makes a little divot or rut, right?

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And if we keep doing that
same thing over and over,

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that divot's gonna get
deeper and deeper and deeper

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but if we decide that we
want to do something new,

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that marble is gonna
have to work extra hard

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to get itself out of that
rut that it's created

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into a more new and healthy path.

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Does that make sense?

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And so if it keeps doing
that new and healthy thing

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then that new divot is
gonna get deeper and deeper

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and that old rut that we used to have

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will get more and more shallow.

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Remember, our brain is
moving things around

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so that it can assist
us with what we need.

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And as a result, all that healthier stuff

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is gonna get easier and easier to do

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and the bad unhealthy hard stuff,

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it's gonna be easy to stay out of it.

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So, overall what I'm really saying is

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just stick with it.

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Even when it's hard because trust me,

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it can and will get better.

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I hope you found that helpful

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and most importantly, hopeful.

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Have a wonderful week and I
will see you next time, bye.