Is it normal to not want to get better?

From personal experience, sometimes I didn't want to become "better" for two...maybe three reasons. For one, I felt like my issues set me apart from other people. I felt "unique" and believed no one will ever understand what I'm going through. So in that way, I was never another part of the monochrome crowd. For another reason, I have an issue with feelings. I can't feel anything unless it's negative because that's what I felt like I deserved to feel. So feeling like a piece of crap, in a twisted way I think I like it because at least I'm feeling SOMETHING other than just emptiness. And lastly. I felt like "wanting to get better" meant that something was really wrong with me. Like I'm a diseased freak that needs to get better. But the first step to recovery means admitting something's wrong.

If by "normal" you mean the statistical 60% of the people 60% of the time, then i would say YES. Inertia is strong, and fear of the unknown is stronger. These things help to hold us in place, and over time we start to feel comfortable there. Especially if we have been stressed and traumatized by failure to 'get better' (what ever that might mean to a person), it can be daunting to take that step again. Also, many people have not had positive experiences and results with trying to improve themselves or their circumstances, so there is a 'previous failure bias' involved. It's not that people don't WISH to be better off, we just fear the loss that might accompany that effort.

Yeah, for sure. This is something that a lot of people experience. It can be awful and confusing. I think it can come out of the need to feel validated that your pain is real and bad and deserving of treatment. Or sometimes the things you struggle with become such a big part of your identity that it's hard to let that go. If you've been struggling for such a long time, you might not really know how to go about life in a more healthy way, and sometimes you're just too exhausted and don't see the point in pursuing healing. It can be a lot of work and you might not feel ready for it. I promise you though that once you do get better, you'll be glad that you did.

It is sometimes, isn't it? There's a comfort in our lives, the good and the consistency of pain, discomfort, of things just not right. To step out of our discomfort zone is just as uncomfortable, that moment of non-acceptance, standing out and saying this isn't what I will allow is liberating...for that moment. Other eyes? Other thoughts? That makes this uncomfortable, why you--Why now? Why are you so special? Why do you have to be special? To be happy. So guilt, why do I deserve this, why can't I accept things as they are/were--becomes a big question. And the answer to be happy, comfortable, safe is not unique nor should it be. That simple realization is the driver and engine to be stoked. We can let go and allow life to happen. We can accept our pain as part of our life because we choose to or affect what we can, and that is the power of our strength to manipulate what we can to our favor is we choose. Not wanting to get better is a starting point, a commanding position. To not want to get better is a growth point that some have not reached for or to yet, nothing else. Judgment has no place here in that decision.

Yes. When we are not well, we have this distorted way of thinking. But when we are feeling better and think back, we ask why we ever even felt that way. It is like we were a totally different person. We had a totally different way of thinking as well. Feeling better though is much better for us not only mentally but also physically. I would say not wanting to get better is a result of the mind playing tricks on itself and on you when you are not well. But the truth is feeling better is just that. You feeling good. Our body releases dopamine and we enjoy life. Which can distract you from all the bad too. Interesting how you can go from one end of the spectrum to the complete opposite.

Yes. I think it is completely normal to not want to get better. This is because you have always been this way and been dealing with this issue. So when you get better you often realize that you do not remember what it’s like to live life without your illness. I think it is completely normal to feel this way. But just because you are afraid of getting better, does not mean that you should sabotage your progress that you have already made. You have already taken the steps to get better, keep going even if it is scary.

Yes, yes it is. Everyone at some point of time feel that they don't want to do better, some realize this while others don't. Many times we are just so exhausted of trying to do better, to reach people's expectations not realizing that the more we do, the more their expectations increase. Until one day, you just can't anymore. You just want to give up and just rest for a while, you'd want to isolate yourself. And its completely normal. It does not mean there is something wrong with you, it just means that you want some time out of that hectic life to sort your feelings, your life out.

I think the implied idea that mentally ill people are sick because they want to be sick is a lie. The only "mentally ill" people I know of who don't want to get better are people with narcissistic or antisocial personality disorders, and even they didn't choose to be that way. Also, there are currently no cures for most mental illnesses, only treatments. Maybe if more government resources went into research on curing diseases of the brain, there'd be less people who need disability. Anyway, if you genuinely feel not wanting to get better is a problem for you, talk to your therapist and doctor about it. You obviously have other issues that need to be addressed.

I would say so, and I would guess there are many reasons. For me, depression has been a part of me for so long that I do not know what would be left if it went away. This is scary. Depression is familiar and easy, and I have learned to live with it, so change is always hard. Moreover, in the past, I have not wanted to get better because I did not think I deserved to get better. I would read all the suggested treatments for depression and do the opposite because I thought I deserved it. I have since realized that that is the depression talking, and it is not true—this was hard to do at the time and took a lot of work, but I got there. In sum, I would say that not wanting to get better is common and normal and also a complex feeling. I would try to ask yourself what your motivations are for not wanting to feel better, and I wish you the best in the future.

If you are not truly ready, within yourself, to be better then you cannot force it. When you are ready, you will know, and then you can work on it. Forcing things does more harm than good! Sometimes, when we force ourselves to be better, we don't receive the relief we need from 'feeling our feelings'. I believe you must understand your feelings before you can begin to change them, meaning once you feel and understand them you can choose to support yourself in a new, better way. It is completely okay to not be ready! Sometimes we may be in too much pain, or have so much going on, that it is impossible to find the readiness to make a change.