Diabetes is a metabolic condition that leads to both physical and mental effects. People dealing with diabetes for a long period already know that coping with negative feelings including hopelessness, frustration, anger, fear and shame represents a part of the process.
The explanation behind this is quite simple and clear. Diabetes stays with a person for the rest of her life and requires apart from medical treatment, discipline and self-management, thus causing a feeling of helplessness. Following an accurate diagnosis, which inevitably has a significant negative impact, the person has to keep in mind constantly the necessary appointments and the lifestyle alterations leading to uncontrollable emotional responses, anxiety, depression, broken relationships as well as eating disorders. Lost health surely becomes a reason for grief and people with diabetes must live with this grief 24 hours a day, whether at home or at work. Usually, they go through the same cycle that involves denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Maybe some of them never end up accepting their condition. The implication of a psychologist may often bring successful results in these situations.
Diabetes and depression
Carrying the burden of diabetes inevitably affects the quality of life and initiates depression. Some individuals do not discuss their symptoms with the doctor meaning that they choose to struggle and battle the condition alone. Undoubtedly, this choice is very dangerous for the person’s physical and mental state because they may appear complications in time and it surely feels very overwhelming. Shortly, these types of people feel controlled by their condition. They permanently worry concerning self-care and management of diabetes, they isolate themselves more and more from the outside world and they lose interest in hobbies or other activities.
Fear and anxiety
When a person faces a dangerous or threatening situation, they respond by feeling anxious and scared. Living with diabetes generally causes two main fears that include low blood sugar and needles. Experiencing an episode of low blood sugar can be unpleasant, embarrassing and even frightening. The worst consequence of these episodes is death. After a single episode, the person with diabetes starts leaving with anxiety because it could repeat anytime. As a result, the person becomes desperate and tries various methods to prevent this from happening again by acting irresponsibly. They consume more food than required to increase the blood glucose level and avoid engaging in normal and simple activities. The fear of needles is also inevitable considering that people with diabetes must endure multiple injections and blood sugar testing.
Eating disorders
Food unquestionably represents a necessity for the body and specialists established a connection between food and emotions. This is not necessarily a problem, except that people with diabetes see it as the only way to cope with their situation. Even though people who receive a diagnosis for diabetes must pay great attention to the consumption of certain foods, some of them cannot help but overeat in order to control their emotions leading to self-criticism. Practically, they add another problem on their list that worsens their condition.
[expand title = “References”]
American Diabetes Association http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/mental-health/depression.html Accessed at: November 2017
Diabetes.co.uk http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-complications/diabetes-and-mental-health.html Accessed at: November 2017
ANRED https://www.anred.com/diab.html Accessed at: November 2017
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