The physical and emotional entwined

To live with a physical condition can have a significant impact on your emotional wellbeing, and if someone’s emotional wellbeing is suffering, this can often have an adverse impact on the way that they take care of their physical health. 
 
In this blog I look at how someone who is living with a physical condition such as hepatitis and diabetes, can manage their emotional wellbeing. I chose hepatitis and diabetes because both seemed to receive little attention compared to other conditions, such as HIV and the various cancers.  And yet hepatitis and diabetes can have a significant impact on a person’s physical and emotional wellbeing.
 
Hepatitis
The World Hepatitis Alliance states that ‘worldwide 400 million people are living with hepatitis B or C, and every year 1.4 million people die from viral hepatitis’.  A significant number of people with hepatitis also have depression.  At a recent Hepatitis C & Chemsex training event for health professionals, a speaker stated that treatment success for hepatitis C (often referred to as the ‘silent killer’) is relatively high but the following issues can often arise – 

• In this country there is a lack of funding for the right sort of treatment
• Not enough people are getting tested – treatment can only be used on those who have been diagnosed
• Even if people get diagnosed, not everyone is adhering to the treatment
• Even if people get diagnosed, and adhere to the treatment, there is an issue regarding people becoming re-infected.  Treatment is not a permanent cure

 
Diabetes
Diabetes UK states that 6% of the population in the UK is living with diabetes.  According to Dr Mark Pemberton, in an article in the Spectator, there is a greater risk of stroke for those who have type 2 diabetes.  In addition, ‘people with diabetes are four times more likely to have cardiovascular disease’ and ’20 to 30 per cent of people with diabetes’ have damage to the kidney filtering system.  Statistics also show that a significant proportion of people with diabetes have depression. 
 
How can a counsellor or psychotherapist help?
If we accept that physical and emotional wellbeing is entwined, what are the different ways that a counsellor or psychotherapist can help someone who has a physical condition such as hepatitis or diabetes?

• On initial diagnosis, clients are often anxious or depressed because they feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the diagnosis.  Talking to a trained expert can offer someone an opportunity to break down the concerns into manageable pieces. 
• By talking to an expert, someone with a physical condition will be able to see that the physical condition is not the full extent of their identity.  They will be able to see all the other aspects that make up their life, even if these other aspects have been somehow altered by the condition in some way
• A diagnosis is often about change:  someone’s body might change, or their significant relationships, or their lifestyle, or their work life.  Talking to a trained expert can help someone to make sense of these changes, allowing them to plan for what they may do about these changes
• A psychotherapist can help someone tolerate the uncertainty that the condition has created.  Suddenly the world will not seem like such a predictable, controllable place, and this can trigger significant anxiety.  It can be helpful to have a trained expert there to accompany someone through this anxiety, helping them to tolerate a measure of uncertainty, but also helping them to see where they may still have control over their life
• There are many myths surrounding physical conditions such as hepatitis and diabetes.  A client might need to work through experiences of discrimination and stigma, or the daily frustration of people being generally inconsiderate.
• It isn’t all about talking – Some clients find it helpful to draw out their feelings about the condition, and often the client will want to do something significant with that drawing, such as tearing it apart or stamping on it.  I have also worked with clients who have given the condition a name and spoken to it, sometimes even shouting at this unwelcome intruder

 
I hope you find this helpful.

Chris Warren-Dickins BACP Registered Counsellor
E:  chris@exploretransform.com
T:  07816681154
W: www.exploretransform.com