Chronic Illness: A Psychological Analysis

Everyday hundreds, even thousands of people are troubled with the burdens of having chronic illnesses physically, economically, but specifically psychologically. As of 2012, in the United states, about 50% percent of the population, about 117 million Americans have at least one chronic disease (Chronic). A chronic illness can be defined as “conditions that last a year or more and require ongoing medical attention and/or limit activities of daily living”(Bernell). Ones life with one can be greatly impacted leading to negative psychological effects in patients, as a result chronic illnesses are a fairly urgent matter. This is due to the mental well-being of the patient with a chronic illness, therefore the question that I keep asking myself …show more content…
In a letter written by Doctor Rob Lambert, a primary care physician with ample experience with patients who have a chronic illness. In Dr. Lambert’s letter, “A letter to patients with chronic disease” addresses two different perspectives, the perspective of the patient and the perspective of doctors, including himself. From the patients perspective, Lambert sympathizes for them as he has “sat for 16 years listening to the stories, seeing the tiredness in [patients] eyes, hearing [them] try to describe the indescribable”(Lambert). He demonstrates his understanding of the the psychological effect patients have no option but to cope with by asking them “How do you cope with living a life that won't let you forget about your frailty, your limits, your mortality?”(Lambert). Since frailty, limits, and morality can define who you are as a person, forgetting about one of them ore constantly having to think about one of them is mentally exhausting. On the other hand, the doctors job is psychologically challenging as well, which is a perspective that I have not considered in the past. Patients with chronic illnesses “scare doctors” according to Lambert because “chronic disease stands square in [their] way” since doctors “don’t want to face things [they] can’t fix because it shows [their] limits” (Lambert). Psychological effects that doctors experience are anger, insecurity, and lack of patience. This differing …show more content…
There are plenty of medical solutions that doctors can give to you such as medicine and treatments; however, like Lambert was explaining in his letter, what frustrates doctors the most is not being able to cure patients. For this reason, patients can end up being responsible for how they manage their health. In a prospective study conducted in the department of Health Psychology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands by Fournier, Marijda, Denise De Ridder, and Jozien Bensing, they researched how optimism contributes to the adaptation of chronic illness. The goal of their study was to “was to investigate the impact of optimistic beliefs on coping and adaptation over 6 and 12 months of chronic illness, and whether the adaptiveness of optimistic beliefs was moderated by the controllability of disease” (Fournier). They observed patients with type 1diabetes, rheumatoid arthritic, and multiple sclerosis. In their findings they the “mental health of chronically ill patients who are optimistic about their outcomes improves over time”(Fournier), in comparison to patients who do not attempt to have that positive mindset who remain unchanged or become more depressed. The idea of having a positive mindset is definitely a challenge, especially when in a constant state of ailing it is hard to uphold that optimism, yet if

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