Living with a chronic disease can be a guided process to optimize a patient’s strengths. We explain how and how.
In Italy, about 14 million people suffer from a chronic disease (that is, almost half of the population over the age of 15) yet few seek the help of a psychologist. Many understand that what happens to them has nothing to do with their mental health, so they don’t even consider that possibility.
However, everything physical has a psychological carry. On a biological level, due to changes in the body, or simply having to endure a series of symptoms throughout life, the mind will be affected. Even when the person adapts to a new lifestyle and does not develop secondary disorders, such as depression, psychological intervention is positive.
For all these reasons, here you will discover what a therapeutic intervention for a chronic disease consists of. Don’t miss this article, as this is an underappreciated but incredibly beneficial area of psychology.
Our physical and mental part are one thing
A physical illness inevitably has a psychological undertone, and this need not be part of the symptoms. For example, there are some chronic diseases that usually cause depression, such as hypothyroidism, Alzheimer’s, diabetes or multiple sclerosis.
Although these symptoms of mental illness usually fade as the patient adjusts to their new life, they persist in many people. even if physical health improves. How, then, to approach the intangible, to what makes us suffer and prevents us from leading the life we knew, but that no one mentions?
Advantages of going to the psychologist when you suffer from a chronic disease
At this point, surely you already see the benefits of going to a psychologist in the presence of a chronic disease, which is here to stay, to change our habits and gradually deteriorate our health. Let’s summarize i Benefits of having professional support in these situations:
- It allows you to adopt a realistic lifestyle : there are many people who resist changing their lives in the presence of chronic diseases. In psychotherapy, the patient is helped to change habits from a realistic and positive perspective.
- It helps to understand the emotional state : Understanding a chronic disease is not limited to just how it changes the body, but the affect on mood and emotions is something that needs to be identified and worked on.
- We work on the “should be”: that nostalgia that binds the patient to the life he had before the disease is usually the cause of so much discomfort and sadness. In consultation, acceptance of the disease and all that it entails is also discussed.
- Strengthen motivation: in the end, it’s not just about managing the negative aspects of the disease, but about finding new goals and maintaining the illusion of living. This also works in therapy.
- Prevention of psychological disorders: inadequate adaptation to the disease predisposes the person to develop psychological conditions such as depression, eating disorders and many others. In therapy, we work on it to prevent it from appearing.
How does the psychologist work when one suffers from a chronic illness?
In general, the therapy will focus on two main pillars: the patient’s emotions and his emotions towards the disease. Let’s see them separately.
Emotions in chronic disease
Chronic diseases carry by their very nature a certain degree of discomfort which varies in intensity. This discomfort, of course, is reflected in the patient’s state of mind, but it is not always analyzed in detail.
Each person and their circumstances create a different scenario, which is why a personalized intervention is needed.
Thus, emotion intervention will focus on self-knowledge and management. The former seeks to identify the specific events that cause emotional distress and gain insight into those emotions. Management refers to the subsequent work that is done with them, which brings us to the next section.
behavioral interventions
Accepting an illness and finding a new meaning in your life is not just a matter of exploring your mind. In the psychologist you also learn to acquire new habits that improve day by day with a chronic disease.
These habits not only help relieve the symptoms of the disease itself, but also make the patient mentally stronger. For example, if he is educated in diet care, medication rigor and sleep hygiene, the patient’s physical and mental life with diabetes will improve.
Finding new projects to work on, breaking down stigmas around the disease, taking charge of a life that seemed lost, all this and much more can be acquired with good psychotherapy. So, if you’re reading this because it sounds like a chronic disease, don’t hesitate to see a psychologist: you deserve to be happy, no matter how your body works.
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