Illness And Therapy

If you suffer from a chronic medical condition like cancer, HIV, diabetes, asthma, or hypertension, you know how hard it can be to perform all the self-care behaviors required of you, especially if you are also dealing with depression. Studies have shown that depressed individuls with chronic illness have a hard time keeping up with the behaviors necessary to manage their condition and improve their health. The program outlined in this workbook can help you take better care of yourself while simultaneously relieving your depression. Designed to be used in conjunction with visits to a qualified mental health professional, this workbook teaches you strategies for maintaining your medical regimen. You will learn how to set up a reminder system for taking medication, plan for getting to medical appointments on time, and how to communicate effectively with your medical providers. You will also learn how to follow the advice of your treatment providers, such as adhering to certain lifestyle and dietary recommendations. These Life-Steps are essential to the program. As you begin to take better care of yourself, you will notice a decrease in your depression. In addition to these self-care skills, you will also learn how to maximize your quality of life, which is another important part of lessening your depressed feelings. Begin to re-engage in pleasurable activities and utilize relaxation techniques and breathing exercises to help you cope with stress and discomfort. Use problem-solving to successfully deal with interpersonal or situational difficulties and change your negative thought through adaptive thinking. By treatment's end you will have all the skills you need to successfully manage your illness and cope with your depression.

An in-depth look at a much misunderstood practice, offering a fresh viewpoint on how this science can be a universally effective route to our better selves.

Severe pain, debilitating fatigue, sleep disruption, severe gastrointestinal distress – these hallmarks of chronic illness complicate treatment as surely as they disrupt patients’ lives, in no small part because of the overlap between biological pathology and resulting psychological distress. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Illness and Disability cuts across formal diagnostic categories to apply proven therapeutic techniques to potentially devastating conditions, from first assessment to end of treatment. Four extended clinical case examples of patients with chronic fatigue, rheumatoid arthritis, inoperable cancer, and Crohn’s disease are used throughout the book to demonstrate how cognitive-behavioral interventions can be used to effectively address ongoing medical stressors and their attendant depression, anxiety, and quality-of-life concerns. At the same time, they highlight specific patient and therapist challenges commonly associated with chronic conditions. From implementing core CBT strategies to ensuring medication compliance, Renee Taylor offers professionals insights for synthesizing therapeutic knowledge with practical understanding of chronic disease. Her nuanced client portraits also show how individual patients can vary—even within themselves. This book offers clinicians invaluable help with - Conceptualizing patient problems - Developing the therapeutic relationship - Pacing of therapy - Cognitive restructuring - Behavioral modification - Problem solving - Fostering coping and adapting skills Taylor’s coverage is both clean and hands-on, with helpful assessments and therapy worksheets for quick reference. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Illness and Disability gives practitioners of CBT new insights into this population and provides newer practitioners with vital tools and tactics. All therapists will benefit as their clients can gain new confidence and regain control of their lives.

Bringing together treatment and referral advice from existing guidelines, this text aims to improve access to services and recognition of common mental health disorders in adults and provide advice on the principles that need to be adopted to develop appropriate referral and local care pathways.

This practical and insightful guide distills into one volume CBT techniques for individual therapy and video demonstrations on DVD that illustrate how these techniques can be used to tackle a wide range of severe clinical problems.

With the onset of chronic illness, an individual and family's world, previously taken for granted, is often undone. The actual and potential losses from illness impact on family, friends, physicians, therapists, nurses, and others in profound and unexpected ways. Through his own honest, personal account and the testimony of others, Robert Shuman takes us inside the illness experience to help us better grasp the daily inner lives of the ailing person and his or her family. As our aging population lives longer, chronic illness touches more and more of us. Whether as patient or parent, nurse or spouse, colleague or therapist, we need to have greater knowledge and understanding of the intricacies of chronic illness.Robert Shuman maps out the many dimensions of illness and invites the reader to explore its challenging terrain in a way that provides opportunities for self-discovery and reflection. In lyrical prose, he opens up new ways of thinking about the psychology of illness and healing. He suggests, for example, that illness symptoms can have a generative effect on a person's imaginative and creative possibilities, and that the socially despised events of illness and disability offer new ways of being once sought through the work of religion. Drawing on the fields of behavioral and family medicine, medical anthropology and sociology, moral and bioethical philosophies, and family, existential, cognitive, Jungian, and archetypal psychotherapies, among others, The Psychology of Chronic Illness raises provocative questions for the professional caregiver as well as for those living with illness and disability.This book will help anyone touched by illness, personally or professionally, to support those living with chronic illnesses and disabilities; to cope with multiple impacts on work, relationships, social roles, individual dreams, and disappointments; to listen to and voice suffering and fears, grief and anger, questions of values and moral doubts; and to acknowledge loss and mourning as a “common ground” that we all share. This book offerrs specific resources to the caregiver and aids the professional in his or her ethical obligation to give. Moreover, Shuman's voice is one of compassion, reminding us how to hold on to or recover hope, meaning, and morale during times of affliction and distress.

Each author here has worked extensively with families that have health problems diabetes, trauma, AIDS, schizophrenia, and more. They represent a range of professional disciplines, including family therapy, psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing, and counseling. These are inspiring stories of those working at the cutting edge of the health care system.

A pioneering book to help maximize the quality of life for chronically ill patients Written by a leading authority on chronic illness treatment and management, Managing Chronic Illness Using the Four-Phase Treatment Approach provides evidence-based practice guidelines for clinicians to help their clients with debilitating health problems embrace a new "normal," understand the cyclical nature of their illness, and function at the highest level possible. Patricia Fennell's groundbreaking model for understanding chronic illness identifies and describes four broad phases experienced by the chronically ill: crisis, stabilization, resolution, and integration. Using a broad array of case histories, Fennell vividly illustrates what clients need at each phase and how to assess and respond to them compassionately. Fennell also suggests how clinicians may best use their own changing experiences in their work to help clients transition through the four phases. The goal of the "Four-Phase Model" is to maximize a client's quality of life without offering false hope for a cure, making it an effective treatment strategy for diverse client populations, including people with physiological diseases; patients whose lives are being prolonged by modern medicine; and people who suffer from addiction, post-traumatic stress syndrome, intractable pain, and post-rape and abuse conditions. Complete with detailed treatment protocols for documenting a client's symptoms and quality of life at each phase, Managing Chronic Illness Using the Four-Phase Treatment Approach is a highly practical book for everyone working with chronically ill clients.