Joey - they truly don't know everything.
When I was a kid, the common wisdom was that either you studied a foreign language when you were young, or you'd never be able to learn it.
Yeah, right. I moved overseas at 35, and learned to speak German quite reasonably. I didn't learn to write it very well, but that was because I didn't make the time to take night classes; I was too pooped by the end of the workday.
I learned to play the guitar at 27.
You can rewire your head. You can learn and change throughout your entire life. Those who try to tell you that you can't are usually gaining something from holding you down - such as, keeping you in therapy, keeping you on drugs, etc.
[Ever notice that some people in 'helping' professions seem to get their kicks from feeling superior to those they're helping? Big problem for them, if the ones being helped get 'over it' and end up functioning better than this kind of helper!]
That being said, some things are pretty much forever, like bipolar disorder (if correctly diagnosed, that is). But even in these cases, much can be done and much progress can be made - if the therapist is cooperative and believes that change is possible. There are cases of florid psychotics going into remission!
So... hope is worth holding on to, and those who would quash it need to be questioned about their motives...
I probably sound kind of smart alecky in this post, and I'm sorry if so... it just fries my hair to hear of people being told what they are and are not capable of by those who gain by keeping others down. Grrrr.
Fortunately, this board is full of folks whose hair fries for similar reasons, so you'll get no end of validation and support... and since we're all in cyberspace, we can't smell the frying hair. A big plus.
