Is it normal to not want to get better?

Absolutely! It's normal to want to stay sick, and even normal to wish that you were more sick. We can become attached to our problem or diagnosis and feel like it is a part of us, and sometimes we can find comfort in that. Sometimes we also wish that we were more sick so that we would require more attention, compassion and care. It is very normal, but know that you are not your illness or your problem. It is just something that you are dealing with right now, and you are a person outside of it.

Humans are creatures of custom. We get used to the way things are, and we can get very comfortable in a situation...even if it's a bad one. Sometimes it's hard to see beyond the moment, to imagine the future. And it can seem like the situation we have, with all of its challenges, is safer and easier than what might come if things change. BUT...if you're suffering, then you need to keep reminding yourself that you can have a better life. You can feel better. You can be better. It's okay to appreciate what we have, but we should never let that hold us back from improvement. Some day, when you're feeling better, you're going to be so grateful that you made the needed changes, that you took the risk and let yourself improve. All the best with your journey...there are bright things ahead! Trust yourself, and trust happiness.

I think that it's normal to not want to get better sometimes, it's a process to go through recovery and a lot of people go through the 'I want to get better' and 'I don't want to get better' processes of any illness.

When I am experience a major depressive episode, I don't want to get better. I sink into the dark feeling and just let the world wash over me. Sometimes it takes support from others to bring me up to the point where I want to get better for myself, but I think it is a normal experience to just give over to the problem.

Yes it is. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in the distorted beliefs that come along with a mental health problem that it feels comfortable, and the idea of recovery is scary, because it severs us from our "sick" identity, which has sometimes been a part of us for a very long time.

When we have continuelly felt bad, for an extended amount of time, that sadness and misery feels normal to us. We recognize it, and it's a normal type of suffering. Sometimes when we are faced with the choice of facing the unknown in order to recover, we will crawl back towards our pain becuase we wlready know what it's like to suffer. If we are given the choice between an unknown benefit, and a familiar pain, many of us will take our pain and hold it close for comfort. This tendency is why it's hard for people to choose recovery after experiencing a chronic mental illness.

It can be very normal! When we have been a certain way or gone through something for a long enough time, it becomes the every-day way of life. And even if it's not good for us, it's comfortable because it's familiar. It also takes time to want to get better, sometimes our bad situation/habits is doing a service for us in some for or other, and to give that up in order to "get better" means changing an important part of your life.

Sadness is very sad, of course, but it is also very comfortable. There is a certain appeal to wrapping yourself in your depression or mania or whatever else because it is such an ever-present companion. The important thing to realize is that you aren't truly comfortable in whatever state you are in, and you do want to "get better" very much. What you are actually comfortable with is the side effects of whatever state you are in, whether it is being out and about, not worrying about consequences, or being reflective and introspective. Find a way to nuture the healthy aspects of yourself apart from whatever self destructive elements. If you are alone and depressed, try enjoying a book or reflecting on the positive things in your life. If you can't stop abusing a substance, try having fun in other ways. Getting better doesn't mean your life is over, it just means you need to find new ways to enjoy it. In the long run, you'll get even more out of life once you realize this.

It can be common. When your life has been defined by your struggle with a difficulty (whether it be mental illness such as depression, bipolar, etc. or a physical illness) it can begin to become "comfortable". Not comfortable in the sense that there is no pain, but you are familiar with the pain, and know it well. As such, "getting well" may involve new pain, and this time (with the illness or condition managed) there is no one to blame but yourself. These are normal thoughts that are common in many people, often people who have been dealing with pain for a long time. They need to be fought, and it is hard, but its part of recovery. Recovery is not a straight upward trajectory, its instead going up and down many times before you reach the goal.

This is different for everybody of course but I have felt this way before, personally it feels easier to let emotions take over because making a conscious decision to go into recovery is a big leap of faith in yourself. It's an uphill battle because if you lose focus in recovering yourself sometimes you can fall further into depression than before, so subconsciously we choose to adapt with our depression and welcome it rather than fight it.