Living a full and robust life is a goal that is within reach and I’ve seen this firsthand.

I also have friends who have been able to create better lives for themselves.

It takes courage to dare dream of having the kind of life you want. It takes a rudimentary belief in yourself to carry on in this goal when no one else believes in you.

For those of us who don’t have the competencies to rely on the “Dream. Believe. Achieve” mantra: social skills training and cognitive remediation (cognitive enhancement therapy) are two treatment options that can help individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia set and achieve goals.

You meet with a counselor to set goals and are given homework assignments to go out into places and develop your skills.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy might be good as well to reduce the effect of any symptoms you have or to better improve your thinking to cope with your own roadblocks that hold you back.

I had 10 sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the fall of 2007. This treatment greatly improved my ability to get through a hard time I was having.

I’ll end here by telling readers that you get to define the kind of life that you think is a full and robust life. The goal is not for everyone to rise up to become superstars or schizophrenia “celebrities.”

The goal is to do what makes you happy every day or as often as you can.

This might be paid work or it might be volunteer work either way.

It involves not comparing ourselves to others and seeking happiness inside ourselves not from other people’s praise.

A full and robust life might not come sooner to us yet we can go out and make it happen at any point in our recovery and our life.

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In the next blog entry I’ll talk about taking action to achieve your goals.