The Psychology Of Chronic Illness

Health psychology is a rapidly expanding discipline at the interface of psychology and clinical medicine. This text offers a comprehensive, accessible, one-stop resource for clinical psychologists, mental health professionals and specialists in health-related matters.

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.

This valuable book combines psychological theories of health with the lived experience of coping with chronic health conditions, focusing on the "ill person" as an actor of their own development. It draws on perspectives from developmental and health psychology alongside the author’s personal experience of chronic illness. Bonino considers all aspects of living with illness, from issues that impact on everyday functioning such as pain and fatigue, to the rebuilding of identity through meaningful new goals and effective actions, and the development of therapeutic relationships. Psychological theories are interweaved with descriptions of lived encounters to center the experience of the person living alongside illness and provide insightful points of reference that everyone could try to use when facing the challenges of chronic disease in the course of their daily lives. Coping with Chronic Illness is important reading for those living with chronic health conditions, as well as for healthcare professionals looking to gain awareness of the psychological issues caused by living with illness. It is also of interest for postgraduate students of health psychology.

Many healthcare professionals are focusing their concerns on controlling symptoms and minimizing physical distress while failing to deal with the social and psychological factors related to living with long-term chronic illness. Ariela Royer makes an important contribution to the study of health and illness behavior by showing the various strategies chronically ill people use to manage their symptoms and overcome the consequences of their particular illness, so they can live the most normal life possible and maintain their self-esteem. In spite of a popular belief linking chronic illness mainly to aging, most chronic problems extend across the life span. One of every seven men and one of every eight women between the ages of 17 and 44 are limited in their major activity, their ability to work, keep house or go to school, because of a chronic condition. At ages 65 and over, nearly three-fifths of men and two-fifths of women are handicapped. Dr. Royer shows various strategies the chronically ill may use to live with the uncertainty inherent in chronic illness. She also discusses how one might try to overcome or to minimize the salient social consequences of chronic illness, such as stigma and social isolation, in order to get on with their lives.

This book helps the primary care physician navigate the normative and non-normative psychological responses to illness, provides advice on coping and offers guidance on mental health referrals. The concise but comprehensive text emphasizes the basics, including responses to serious and potentially life-threatening illness, normal and maladaptive coping responses in medically ill individuals, and specific aspects of the illness process. Case examples illustrate the concepts discussed. Includes a chapter on psychotropic medications, and another on the special circumstances of non-compliant patients. The book concludes with discussion of family situations and offers recommendations on referring patients to a mental health provider who specializes in treating the medically ill.

The Psychology of Illness: In Sickness and In Health serves as a guide for therapists working with chronically ill patients. It weaves together theory, clinical experience, case examples, and up-to-date research. The book's flexible approach involves several modalities, including psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, pharmacological, and family treatments. This book teaches that therapists can help patients cope not only with the illness, but also with the complex relationships they will have with their physicians and the medical establishment. Dr. Druss's unique book is divided into two sections. The first section, "Sickness," focuses on the subjective experience of being chronically ill. The second, "Health," is concerned with health and the quality of life. This book includes such topics as "healthy denial" and programs for staying healthy, such as exercise.

In addition, countertransference and other therapeutic relationship issues are addressed because they are more common and problematic in working with people who are chronically ill than they are with traditional psychotherapy clients.

Millions of Ghanaians live with diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancers and other major chronic diseases. Millions more are at risk of getting these conditions. Individuals living with chronic conditions experience many disruptions, especially at the early stages of diagnosis and adjustment. The disruptions are physical (medical complications), psychological (depression), material (impoverishment), social (stigma) and spiritual (struggles with faith and trust). These experiences have an impact on family life and resources, with primary caregivers bearing similar disruptions to their chronically ill loved ones. While chronic conditions cannot be cured, many individuals hope for a cure. This hope drives healthcare seeking across different sectors of Ghana’s vibrant pluralistic health system. When ‘hope for a cure’ meets ‘claims to cure’ within the herbalist and faith healing sectors, especially, the outcomes for individuals and their families can be catastrophic. The Ghanaian situation is mirrored in many African countries. It is estimated that African chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) prevalence, morbidity and mortality rates will rise faster than rates in Asia and Latin America over the coming decades. The long term and costly nature of NCDs has major implications for individuals, communities, health systems and governments. In this inaugural lecture, Professor Ama de-Graft Aikins discusses the psychology of chronic disease risk, experience and care in Africa. She makes a case for why the problem of NCDs needs to be examined through a psychological lens. She draws on her independent and collaborative work on diabetes representations and experiences among Ghanaians in Ghana and Europe, and the broader African and global health literature, to highlight the complex multi-level context of chronic disease risk, experience and care. She presents a synthesis of the evidence through the concepts of physical ills and ideological ills, arguing that both are interconnected and, as a result, must be addressed through interdisciplinary approaches. She concludes by offering practical solutions for reducing chronic disease risk and improving the quality of long-term experience and care in Ghana, using examples from countries that have implemented successful NCD interventions.