Medical advances can save people with huge burns and major traumas in today’s world. But heroic doctors can’t make a person want to keep living… The coping skills of a life before tragedy, whether healthy or unhealthy, shape the patient’s recovery in many ways.
I wish the negative patterns weren’t so ingrained, that addictions didn’t have such a foothold and offer a fleeting release from the pain. Turning unhealthy coping into healthy takes a huge will, support and as many do-overs as it takes to keep moving forward.
I feel for the loved ones and caregivers who keep picking up the pieces, forgiving the relapses and dealing with lost trust. They are the unsung heroes, bolstering the fragile, encouraging the tentative steps that might one day truly turn the tide…