A Book Offering Coping Strategies And Hope For Those With Invisible Chronic Illness

Living with a chronic condition not only effects the individual, but it effects the entire family. An adolescent living with a chronic health condition not only depends on their family for support, but also on support from their friends, classmates, and healthcare team (Rostami, Parsa-Yekta, Najafi Ghezeljeh, & Vanaki, 2014). Supporting an individual with a chronic disease leaves an emotional impact and can be financially straining as well. Families living with a sick child must find strategies to cope. Whether the coping strategies utilized are positive or negative, they leave a lasting effect on the entire family, as well as the child living with the condition (Woodson, Thakkar, Burbage, Kichler, & Nabors, 2015). Involvement of the parents in this situation is vital to the child’s future success in managing their illness (Landers, Friedrich, Jawad, & Miller, 2016). This paper will explore one family’s story of living with, and coping with, a child who has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D).

When someone is suffering or living with a chronic illness it can have a huge impact on them psychologically and socially. Chronic Illness is a condition that is prolonged in duration, usually more than 3 months and is rarely cured (DoH, 2012). Having to cope with a chronic condition might lead to life changes, such as dependency on others, loss of income, which can cause feelings of loss and reduced self-esteem. They can also report feelings of social rejection, poor healthcare and workplace termination due to their presenting condition (Earnshaw, Quinn, & Park, 2011).

A caregiver interview was completed with 70-year-old J.R., one of 66 million people providing unpaid care as a family caregiver, to find out more information on caregiver stress and strain (Collins & Swartz, 2011). J.R. is the live-in spouse of R.R., who is 78 years old, suffers from bronchiectasis and congestive heart failure, and is on oxygen full time. Through this class and additional research, I have learned that being a caregiver of someone with a chronic illness can be difficult. Research shows that caregivers who live with the care recipient, often experience very high levels of strain (Collins & Swartz, 2011). Along with dealing with role stress and strain, research suggests that caring for someone with a chronic illness can cause physical, psychological, and financial burden for the caregiver (Collins & Swartz, 2011).

The degree of ability or disability may vary over time and across different life domains. Furthermore, continued disability has been linked to institutionalization, discrimination and social exclusion as well as to the inherent effects of disorders. Alternatively, functioning may be affected by the stress of having to hide a condition in work or school etc., by adverse effects of medications or other substances, or by mismatches between illness-related variations and demands for

Chronic illness sucks. Many families in Canada and around the world live with a person who has one or more chronic condition. Chrionic conditions can range from heart disease, injury, cancer, and mental illness. Chronic conditions are “impairments in function, development, or disease states that are irreversible . Chronic illness Over the course of three interviews This paper will explore the effects of chronicity on families living with chronic condiditons through research and recounting of interviews .

The quality of life of family members, as well as of patients, can be hugely reduced in terms of physical effects, psychological distress, and social problems. The family members of patients experience emotions such as worry, frustration, and stress. Parents of children with physical and mental disabilities experience social problems, and the work life of family members of NCD patients is affected. Research shows that the family members of patients can be more emotionally affected by illness than patients

illness has the potential to take full control over a person’s life, creating many obstacles from

According to Margret Vickers the Sociologists have been concerned about the inequality of patients that have a chronic to life altering disease especially at work. A person with a disability is categorized as being other, different, and outside the norm, faces obstacles of trying to fit in to the working environment. Furthermore, employees who don’t possess the physical, emotional or cognitive attributes that others present maybe stigmatized or discredited. The workplace remains difficult for people with a life altering illness to negotiate and be secure furthermore employment has actually decreased worldwide.

A child is not their disease, neither is their family. However, it is often difficult for them to disconnect their self from the detrimental effects of it. In spite of the fact that the majority of the American population appears quite healthy, over 32 million children are currently suffering from a chronic illness. According to njhealth.org, chronic illness is “an illness that may last throughout a person’s life, although the frequency and severity of symptoms can change.” Nearly 43% of American children are currently afflicted with at least 1 of many chronic ailments ranging from diabetes to cancer. Many of these children may never return to their precedent state of well-being; physically, emotionally, socially, and psychologically. During such horrific times as these it is important to remember that the children are not the only ones suffering; their family is as well.

Working in the field of mental health, I have come to realize that mental and behavioral illness is common and almost everyone is affected in the United States. Caregivers offer service to people who are not capable of performing or going through their daily routines or activities because of their physical disabilities or an illness (Gouin, Estrela, Desmarais, & Barker, 2016). A coping system for dealing with mentally ill patients vary from one family to another for different of reasons.

Being diagnosed with a chronic condition early on in life, and having an older sister who died from the same condition, could be enough to send someone into a deep depression and make it difficult to manage the disease. Her family’s continual support during her times of illness and recovery allows her a safe setting to adapt to any changes or new deficits and learn to cope successfully, which Grey, Knafl, and McCorkle (2006) explain, can lead to greater

Did you know that 20 % of the population suffers from some form of immune system disease? The world is becoming more sick by the day, as illnesses such as Arthritis and joint disease affect over 43 million people in the United States alone!

Imber-Black (2014) delves into the dangers that toxic secrecy plays in four different family situations. The dangers of keeping the health problems of family members a secret (and the triangles that are formed while doing so) are addressed. On the other hand, specific questions are laid out to better help patients understand who they may or may not need to share their specific health problems with (Imber-Black, 2014).

There are several ways to cope with chronic illnesses; some are categorized as healthy or unhealthy, but ultimately, the coping mechanism that works best is the decision of the one affected by it, or the person living with a chronic illness. One kind of coping mechanism discussed by a radio interview of Michael Kinsley is denial, which to most people seems very unhealthy and non-beneficial. Denial in most forms is considered unwise, but Kinsley argues that denial of his illness gave him "eight years of privacy, eight years of relative normalcy" and it "saved" the sympathy of his friends and loved ones for the "end" rather than the beginning of his illness when he did not need it (). For him, denial and its benefits worked, and its effects were

Sophia’s relationships are hugely affected by her illness. As she says at the start of her diary, everyone around her tolerates her attitudes and moods, which are often a product of her own state of impending death. She wonders whether her friends are there because they feel sorry for her or because they actually like her, saying, “Father, my sisters, and all my friends end up blindly indulging me, although I have never figured out what it is in me that they love. Is it my arrogance, my temper? Or do they just pity me because I have TB?” (52) While Sophia may not understand that her friends and family may actually like her for who she is as a person, she does understand that having TB means that she is