- Making sure that people with chronic illness know that it’s okay to be depressed or worried about their condition
While increasing awareness of something may not be the most obviously beneficial through stats or data, it can help, even if it’s not a top priority. People with a chronic illness are stuck with a pain they didn’t deserve or want and that is absolutely frustrating. Clearly, I don’t have a chronic illness so I can’t speak to the pain of those who do. But I can imagine that it would be horrible to live day to day with a pain that never totally goes away. In addition, people who aren’t sure what their condition is can feel even more hopeless. Adding on to the pain of their illness, they have no solution or treatment for their problems. Checking in with these people and making sure to always ask how they’re doing may help them alleviate a tiny bit of their stress and pain/fatigue. It’s okay to not be okay sometimes.
- Stop blaming chronic illnesses on a person’s lifestyle
Some doctors and institutions choose to turn the patient’s illness around on him/her, saying that if she just ate healthy or exercised more, she would be fine. However, this is proved wrong in the case of a person suffering from CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), exercise will just make her/him more tired. Instead of trying to make the patient feel worse about themselves, creating a safe environment that the patient feels comfortable in will not only forge a bond between the patient and the doctor but will also allow for an open mind that is needed to discover new treatments and solutions.
- Create counseling programs/therapy
Again, reinforcing the idea that people suffering from chronic illnesses may need an outlet to talk and vent to. Having professional help may improve the patient’s mental state and even help them maintain a positive outlook on life. If everyday, healthy people need therapy, then why wouldn’t those suffering from an illness need to?
Disclaimer: these ideas are not designed to help the actual illness, just to help a patient’s mental state
SOURCE:
Edwards, Laurie. In the Kingdom of the Sick: A Social History of Chronic Illness in America. Bloomsbury, 2014.
Out of My Mind 