Aren’t we all familiar with this saying? Life can bring us situations or struggles we must deal with in our lives that we sometimes wish we do not have to endure. Surely a lot of you can relate to this, but also at the same time agree that these same situations or struggles force you to grow stronger and in some or other way, you benefit from it.
What am I saying? Well, it has been shown from a psychological well-being perspective approach (Bezuidenhout et al., 2023) that some of the mental illnesses we struggle with, tend to promote certain traits within us that we can really benefit from.
Such as…?
- Mildly depression individuals show more traits of realism and empathy as opposed to “normal” individuals that is overly positive with unrealistic expectations.
- OCD brings out enhanced organisational skills and weighted ability to foresee sequences of events important for categorizing and planning.
- The hypomania stage of bipolar disorder generally brings out traits of energy, creativity and confidence which can result in outstanding productivity.
- ADHD have been shown to support traits of hyper-focus, hyper-speed and risk-taking behavior which result in effortless multitasking, ability to process information quickly, have an increased capacity for multiplex vision to solve problems in an innovative way during crisis situations.
- Anxiety allows us to be more present and alert in the moment and helps spur on creativity.
- So, as you can see the “weakness” you have can be used as a strength that can support you in many ways. If we can just be open to change the way we think about things, we can make peace with reality as Byron Katie says and the suffering goes away.
REFERENCE: Bezuidenhout, B. et al. (2023). Understanding Psychopathology (4th ed.). Oxford University Press
If this resonates and you would like to explore more about yourself, I invite you to book a session with me.