chap 4 Health Psych.pptx chap 4 Health Psych.pptx

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1. CHAPTER FOUR Chronic Medical Disease and Behavior

2. Overview Chronic illnesses, such as asthma, AIDS, cancer, coronary heart disease and multiple sclerosis, are another important focus for health psychologists . having a chronic condition entails frequent impositions on the patients and their families .

3. Chronically ill people may suffer periodic episodes of feeling poorly and need to have regular medical checkups Restrict their diets or other aspects of their life styles or administer daily treatment , For instance . Many chronic conditions entail more than just impositions they produce frequent pain or lead to disability or even death.

4. Management of chronic illness focuses on tertiary prevention for chronic illness to retard its progression, prevent disability , and rehabilitate the person , p hysically and psychologically.

5. Initial Reactions to diagnosis of Chronic Condition By observing patients in rehabilitation and health settings, Franklin Shontz (1975) has described a sequence of reactions people tend to exhibit following the diagnosis of a serious illness. This sequence of reactions is : 1. Shock —an emergency response, marked by three characteristics: {a) being stunned or bewildered (b) Behaving in an automatic fashion, and (c) Feeling detached from the situation, that is, feeling like being an observer rather than a participant in the events that occur.

6. 2. Encounter = a phase that is marked by disorganized thinking and feelings of loss , grief, helplessness , despair , and being overwhelmed by reality. 3. Retreat —a phase in which people tends to use avoidance strategies, such as denying either the existence of the health problem or its implications. But then reality begins to intrude: the symptoms remain or get worse, additional diagnoses confirm the original one

7. Coping with the crisis of illness: The Crisis Theory Crisis theory describes factors that influence how people adjust during a crisis, such as having an illness. According to Crisis theory the outcome of the crisis or the adjustment the person makes depends on the coping process, which depends on three contributing influences : I. Illness-Related Factors • Greater threat :Some health problems present a greater threat to the person than others do they may be more disabling, disfiguring, painful, or life-threatening • Disfigurement: Adjusting to being disfigured can be extremely difficult, particularly when it involves the person’s face. Many individuals whose faces are badly scarred withdraw from social encounters, sometimes completely.

8. Embarrassing problems : Patients also have difficulty coping with illness- related factors that involve annoying or embarrassing changes in bodily functioning or that draw attention to their conditions. Visible conditions (e.g., tics, seizures) and treatment equipment’s that are visible or produce noisy. Painful treatments : Some treatments are painful or involve medications that produce serious side effects Time commitment for treatment regimen Lifestyle changes Hardy and resilient personality

9. II. Background and personal factors: The ways individuals cope with chronic health problems also depend on many other background and personal factors, such as their age, gender , social class , philosophical or religious commitments , emotional maturity and self-esteem .

10. 4.3. The Coping Process in patients of chronic illness Coping with Chronic Illness has process : (1) cognitive appraisal ; An individual initially appraises the seriousness and significance of the illness Factors such as knowledge, illness beliefs, previous experience and social support may influence this appraisal process. ( 2) adaptive tasks (3) coping skills