Effects On Psychological Health When Labelled With Chronic Illness

The effects of self-stigma can lead to a lack of self esteem, lack of confidence, isolation and the increased likelihood of avoiding professional help for their illness. This then has an over all affect on quality of life and where one sees themselves fitting within society (Barney, Griffiths, Jorm & Christensen, 2005; Griffiths & Christensen, 2004; Newell & Gournay, 2000).

This is a sponsored post. I have been compensated for my time through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network. All opinions remain my own, and I was in no way influenced by the company.

Being chronically sick is like being on a roller coaster. When you first get sick everybody's there but once they realize that the ride never ends. They wait until it gets back to the easier part of the ride and they jump off. Some stay by your side helping you when it gets to top knowing that you're afraid of heights but after a while they expect you to get used to it. What they don't know you will never get used to

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 .

A book offering coping strategies and hope for those diagnosed with an Invisible Chronic Illness, Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired written by Mary E. Siegel and Paul J. Donoghue, also speaks a lot about how relationships are impacted by Invisible Chronic Illness but also offers suggestions and intervention strategies in order to fix them. Those with Invisible Chronic Illness often struggle to maintain normal relationships. The burdens that can come along with having an Invisible Chronic Illnesses can hinder even the strongest of relationships. When in times of need people tend to look towards their families for support, but sometimes this need is not met making their illness even harder to bare. Some of the challenges that familial relationships will face during the time someone is diagnosed with Invisible Chronic Illness will involve changes in roles, unmet needs of both parties, and self-doubt or doubt of others.

Diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, and many other chronic illnesses take over ones life, and change it. Everyday new challenges regarding home life, and work, everyone is different,

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

The idea of stigma and what it is like to be a stigmatized person was conducted by sociologist Erving Goffman. He analyzed how stigmatized individuals feel about themselves and their relationships with people that are considered “normal”. Stigmatized individuals are people who are not socially accepted and are constantly eager to alter their social identifies: physically deformed people, mentally ill patients, drug addicts, homosexuals, etc.

Being diagnosed with a chronic illness as a child completely changes the anticipated trajectory of their life, as well as their family’s life. The child who is diagnosed has to learn how to cope with the symptoms of the disease, as well as how to cope with the psychological effects that accompany the illness. Additionally, the roles of each member of the family change. Once a

Having a long-term, or chronic, illness can disrupt your life in many ways. Your physical abilities may be altered limiting your independence. You may not be able to work, causing financial problems. For family members, this can be frightening, because they may not understand why this is happening. These changes can cause stress, anxiety and anger, leading to depression. Coping techniques from a professional counselor can help a family and patient work through these transition periods of the disease process. Family meetings allowing open communication will provide a judge free environment for family members to ask questions and receive answers to gain a better understanding of the personal struggle the person with the chronic disease is dealing with, further more enabling the family to revel their struggles with this as well.

Stigma has been said to be “a feeling of being negatively differentiated owing to a particular condition, group membership or state in life”(Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012, p. 458). There are typically two types of mental illness stigma that are discussed. Public stigma, also known as societal stigma, is the stigma associated with the prejudicial attitudes the public holds towards those people who suffer from mental illness (Arboleda-Florez & Stuart, 2012; Corrigan, Markowitz, Watson, Rowan & Kubiak, 2003). Self-stigma, also known as internalized stigma, is the loss of self-esteem, withdrawal, and personal shame that some with mental illness will experience. Self-stigma is usually developed when those who suffer from mental illness associate the negative stereotypes the public holds with themselves (Chronister, Chou, & Lieo, 2013; Corrigan et al., 2003).

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,

Stigma can be defined as a mark of shame or ignominy that sets individuals apart from others. Goffman notes “Society establishes the means of categorizing persons and the complement of attributes felt to be ordinary and natural for members of each of these categories”. (Goffman) Given, when a person is labeled by said illness, disorder, or deviancy they are seen as a part of a stereotyped group and as a result are stigmatized by the “normals”. Moreover, the routines of social interactions in society allow us to create normative expectations and demands for the way ones in said society are expected to

Leventhal’s model of self-regulation is based on the idea that each person forms a cognitive representation of their illness, which allows them to make sense of their symptoms. This illness perception and the patient’s emotional response then guide behaviour towards managing the illness (Leventhal et al., 1984). An illness perception is made up of five major components. These are illness identity, potential cause, timeline, its consequences and how it may be controlled. Often patients with similar diseases can hold very different perceptions of their illness (Petrie and Weinman, 2012). Clinical severity of the condition does not necessarily predict how a patient will cope. This essay will outline strengths and weaknesses of whether the model can be used to explain health outcomes and coping strategies, implement successful interventions and predict or even improve adherence to treatment. Finally, the importance of constructs not included in the model, such as social support, will be discussed. The essay will evaluate the model using examples of illnesses such as stroke, cancer, diabetes and asthma.

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.