A Critical Analysis Of The Evidence Of Benefit Finding For Individuals With Serious Illness Essay

Develop personality, making illness an eventful experience; Forward movement of personality and other ongoing human processes in the direction of creative, constructive, productive personal community living(Meleis,

Even after Pausch was was given his diagnosis he stayed optimistic, “My personal take on optimism is that as a mental state, it can enable you to do tangible things to improve your physical state. If you’re optimistic, you’re better able to endure brutal chemo, or keep searching for late-breaking medical treatments.” (Pausch, 183) Pausch felt that by remaining positive he would be able to handle the physical pain that comes with cancer, and would have a better chance of beating it or living longer. Pausch’s incredible optimism helped him, and his family, stay strong throughout his limited time left. Because he was able to stay positive, Pausch was able to make the most of the time he had remaining and used it to make memories with his children, get everything settled for his wife and get to spend his last months living life with his family instead of just preparing for death. Pausch’s unimaginable optimism was inspiring throughout The Last Lecture and has inspired me to have a more positive outlook in my own life. In my everyday life if I spend less time complaining and being upset, and focus on being positive and all that I have to be thankful for, my life will be more meaningful. As Pausch said, “We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.”

Cancer has one of the biggest effects on the patients mental health but also the patients loved ones and friends. It is one of the hardest things to get a grip on when the doctor tells someone that they have cancer and a fifty-fifty chance of making it. "The disease can bring many changes-in what people do and how they look, in how they feel and what they value" (Dakota 4). It makes people look at the world and their lives in a different way, valuing now what they took for granted and seeing the bigger picture in every scenario. It is something that no one can actually brace, even after the doctor tells them. Through it all though, the person must remain strong and optimistic because the cancer can affect the person's moods and in return affect the outcome of the person and the chances of their making it

Recovery of a patient is much more than the management of medial symptoms. It involves a person regaining control, individualism and independency, “socially re-connecting” and rebuilding their life (Welch, 2010). Protective factors such as self-care, quality of life, pain and illness perception, and physical outcomes can be associated with the recovery of a patient. Welch suggest, “Excessive individualism or self-reliance is an obstacle to resilience when it undermines relationships or prevents people seeking and receiving help when they need it” (Welch,

From the article Positive Psychology in Cancer Care: Bad Science, Exaggerated Claims, and Unproven Medicine by James C. Coyne and Howard Tennen, any new treatment introduced to the medical community the theory of a “Fighting Spirit” has come under analysis. While there is no current concrete evidence shown to support the physical effects of a fighting spirit there have been studies to support the positive mental effects of patients taking this stance. I feel that these initial findings should guide the medical community to further test the effects of patients possessing a fighting spirit. I do find it beneficial to promote a “Fighting Spirit” as a coping mechanism to those facing a terminal disease. By bringing out your inner fighting spirit

The lived experience of men diagnosed with prostate cancer can be understood as a phenomenology of human experience.

In "A Problem with How We Treat Cancer and How to Fix it,” Cindy Finch, the clinical social worker, argues that after being diagnosed with cancer five years ago, she could recover from the disease but not from her emotional condition. When she was recurring her medical visits, she noticed that doctors and hospitals are focus on the equipment, and medical resources that help people to survive their diagnosis, but they do not worry about the post-traumatic and emotional support for life after cancer. Finch, suggest that to optimize cancer recovery, medical community must integrate and turn psycho-social healthcare in a new phase of cancer treatment. Using help from a survivor specialist that assist and tech patients and their family, to find

If people could just understand – really understand –what goes on in the mind of someone who has received a cancer diagnosis, things would be different. Alas, this level of understanding seems to be ever-elusive. What they do not realise is that what they are seeing on the outside does not always marry up with what's happening on the inside. It is possible that people can not relate to it until it happens to them. I have stage 4 advanced metastatic prostate cancer, and many continue to tell me that I look great. After that I don’t hear from them, because they see me as the same person before the illness. Inside, however, I am different, because I still have the cancer illness. How many times have I heard "I don’t know if I could do it?" Frankly,

Growth – Living a full and meaning life, characterized by self-management of the illness, resilience and a positive sense of self. ‘I think that working to overcome the illness has made me a better person.’ (Andresen, 2006).

Cancer has affected many love ones in families. It is a constant battle for people emotionally and physically. Do people dealing with cancer ever get a break? It is possible that some people can be cancer free, but for those who cannot be cured, what happens? Every once in awhile we need a break from reality. That is why I focused my senior project around an organization called Life Is Good No Matter What.

Cleary and McNeil (1988) stated that change in health status is usually thought of as an outcome of medical care. However, individuals’ health status prior to receiving care is also important as it may also cause them to be more or less satisfied. However, Zapka et al. (1995) reported that healthier patients were more satisfied but also, on the contrary, that patients with chronic illness were more satisfied. There were some authors that suggested that mental and not physical health status was significantly associated with patient satisfaction (Rahmqvist 2001; Cohen 1995). Greenley et al. (1982) hypothesised that patients with poor psychological health may be less satisfied with their care because they may have trouble getting relief from their distress or because providers may react less positively to them.

Individuals confronted with serious health issues or suffering from chronic illnesses are vulnerable to poor coping adaptations. Franks and Roesch conclude that individuals in a chronic state of disease who perceived their illness in a positive way were more likely to use coping strategies. However, individuals who perceived their illness negatively are engaged in denial and avoidance (Giddens, 2012). In my current clinical setting, majority of Veterans suffer from one or more critical life-threatening and advanced stages of major chronic diseases including cancer. Major chronic diseases, specifically in advanced stage with their associated multi-morbidities require support in self-care health management and incorporation of the measures (e.g.

As we found in our literature review, meaning in life is associated with better feelings about disease management, increased hopefulness and slower disease progression in people living with HIV (INSERT CITATINSS). Our study supports the importance of the ability to find meaning in life in a positive outlook as it relates to managing HIV. According to our bivariate analyses, life regard is positively correlated with perceived social support and forgiveness. As explained in our theoretical model, the transactional model of stress and coping (CITATION) we used life regard as a lens through which people view their illness; therefore, someone with positive life regard would be more likely to actively seek out positive coping efforts such as social support and

That’s why Dr. Bussolari’s work on positive affect intervention to reduce stress in people newly diagnosed with HIV struck a chord. The insecurity, fear and stress that comes with the diagnosis of a disease means that our “old” self is dead and we will have to come to terms with a new reality. The adaption to chronic illness often causes clients to develop symptoms of depression as a result. Thus, as MFTs, just like with the death of a client’s loved one, we will be searching for ways to help our clients in overcoming their hardship. Along with her colleagues Moskowitz, Carrico, Cohn and Duncan, she found that positive affect intervention can be a helpful tool. In doing so, they had a positive feedback on how their clients viewed their HIV status. As it’s evident, research that Dr. Bussolari conducts is crucial in comprehending our clients through life transitions or loss.

I'm amazed by the clear majority of “successful” people who overcame adversity and hardship. How do we react to ours? Do we crumble like cookies under the thought of a challenge and avoid them.. or do we conquer challenges and own them? Well, I say, it's up to us. All this [stress] plays into a huge feedback loop that can determine health, happiness, and ultimately our "success". For better or for worse. Why did patients in our readings have such different personal narratives of illness from what seemed to be very similar and even in the same biomedical causes of illnesses? These questions highlight the view that there is a deeper transcending non-biomedical cause of illness, which then, effects outcomes of treatment and healing. I believe an attitude of resilience fostered through experience, plays a huge role in how people react to their illness which then affects how one responds to treatment/therapy. How is it that some people in life have suffered so much and at the end of the day, sometimes after years. not only remain intact mentally, but thrive in the world and carry on with their lives, despite their condition(s) and exposure to trauma. Against all the odds. Through personal experience and evidence presented in the readings. I will persuade you to understand why I feel humans may respond so differently; to treatment and the processes of healing. I don’t expect you to agree with everything I say, you are entitled to that. I only expect that you acknowledge that the