Some people eventually come to recognize the benefits their mental disorder has brought them.

I'll just mention a young man who told me, "I thank God for allowing me to experience these anxiety attacks because now I understand those who suffer better," and the young woman who said to me, "I needed the disorganization I went through because I thought I was an exceptional case and invincible," and the woman who confessed that depression, along with psychotherapy, gave her the push she needed to stand on her own two feet.

We must constantly remind ourselves that the improvement of personality through mental disorders comes through progress in self-awareness.

In essence, to attempt an analogy, a mental disorder is like physical pain that attracts our attention and "pushes" us to go to the doctor to find out the cause. Just as a doctor's goal is not simply to relieve the pain, but to determine its cause, the goal of a mental health professional should never be limited to simply returning the patient to the way he or she was before the problem arose. The goal is to answer questions such as "What can I learn about myself from what has happened to me?" and "How should this change my life?