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If someone is stuck in a delusional system or otherwise psychotic, or is in a severe manic or depressed state, it is too much to ask, if you are expecting them to come out of it, medicated or not, if their environment is adverse.  

This is one of the reasons that a good housing situation is so essential for persons with mental illness. If someone is stuck in a jail, or in a psychiatric ward (at least, one that has overstimulation and/or mean and nasty mental health workers) it is not an environment in which you can expect a recovery. Many of the board-and-care housing situations are not monumentally better.  

In my recovery I have benefited from having blocks of time in which there were no demands, and in which the environment was safe and peaceful. This is the same sort of peaceful environment needed by meditation practitioners, something you could see for yourself any time you visit a Zen monastery.  

Recovery from psychosis is like a sub-enlightenment in which a very basic clarity is found. Many of the conditions required by meditation practitioners are the same ones needed by people recovering from a psychiatric illness.  

When we feel safe and comfortable with most of our needs met, it is a space in which we might be able to sift through the thoughts and emotions and arrive at a better state of mind.  

People in recovery from a psychiatric illness benefit from a place to call our own. We benefit from having enough to eat and not going hungry. We benefit from the absence of an external threat. We benefit from having income given to us, such that we don't have to work to survive.  

Right now, the housing prospects for persons with disabilities are generally atrocious. Many disabled persons are forced to live in institutional situations, and some are either homeless, or live in a jail cell. This is not the "kinder gentler nation" promised by a politician of the past whose name I won't mention. This is a travesty. This is where the most vulnerable of human beings are put into the most brutal of living situations.  

We need affordable, clean, secure, comfortable, air-conditioned, heated homes, and we can not make a good recovery without this. Meanwhile, we are looking at further cuts to Section 8 housing certificates. In theory and often in practice, Section 8 is a good program and allows persons with disabilities to have a decent place to live. Many things about Section 8 could be better, but without it, disabled people could be forced to live in awful living situations or could be homeless.  

Medication is another thing that can bring comfort or that can bring agony. We need to be on the right medications that allow physical and mental comfort--otherwise it is impossible to think.  

Medications with too many side effects, such as motor restlessness, a stiff torso, dry mouth, and the inability to relax, either should not be prescribed, or should be given in moderate dosages. Medications intended to minimize anxiety and depression should be prescribed. Just giving someone a horrible antipsychotic and telling him or her to "deal with it" is not good treatment.  

Tobacco use (and I am probably a hypocrite for bringing this up) in the long run is anti-comfort. You are chained to the smoke and are highly uncomfortable in its absence. The long term effects, such as wrecked lungs and a wrecked heart, cause a great deal of suffering--and this isn't comfortable. I do not recommend it.  

Alcohol use and narcotics use are the same deal, you can't get comfortable without your bottle, your shot or your toke. Thus, drug, tobacco, or alcohol addictions make it harder to recover from mental illness.  

Comfort food, in moderation, can be a good way to relax and calm down. Depriving oneself of food or eating too far in excess of what you need are additional impediments to overall comfort and make it harder to recover. Any physical illness or health problem, especially those involving a lot of physical pain can make it harder to recover.  

Getting pushed past the comfort zone is fine if you are well into recovery and ready for a challenge. However, too much discomfort too often, or too early into recovery, can be bad for recovery from a mental illness. It is fine to have challenges and responsibilities in which the need for comfort is temporarily out the window. But, at some point, we all need to relax.