If Leo gets treatment and recovers (fingers crossed) how long is the typical healing time for mate madness?
I know it’s a mental disorder so i’m wondering if it’s something that will get mostly better but some things will linger for a while or what.
So I know I technically classify it as a mental disorder, but its really more like a hybrid between a mental disorder and an illness due to the fact that it can be completely cured. It functions like a mental illness, but with enough treatment it will go away and never come back, which isn't how real mental illnesses work. It also physically affects the brain, in a way that scans can catch. All of that is to say, the recovery process is long, but it does end eventually!
Let's use Leo's case for example, since his is basically completely developed. If Leo were to get treatment right this second, he would most likely be looking at about a year of recovery. Typically, with cases of mate madness, hospitals will take in patients for the first couple days of recovery to monitor them (among other reasons...), where they'll administer strong doses of medication to suppress the illness. Once they believe its gone down enough, they'll release the patient, where they'll then be required to take lower doses of pharmaceutical medication for a duration of six months to a year (depending on how far along their MM was before getting caught). For Leo, it would be closer to a year. They are also strongly encouraged to go to therapy specifically for recovering MM victims so they can begin to unlearn ideas/behaviors MM instilled into them.
Finally, once the estimated medicated period is over, the patient will get checked out by a doctor to see if they have any remnants of MM still lingering around (this can be done through brain scans and behavioral assessments). If there are, the patient will continue to take meds and go to therapy for a while longer. If it's all gone, they'll be taken off of medication, although they are still encouraged to seek therapy if they feel it's still beneficial to them. And that's the process!
