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Emotional Factors and
Diabetes
Coping with
diabetes will be an ongoing challenge for you as well as for members of
your family. Many feelings will enter into acceptance of the diagnosis.
There may be some anger, guilt, or anxieties, both expressed and
unexpressed. It is important for you, the diabetic, to discuss these
feelings with those who love you. If it is your child who is diabetic,
it is important to encourage discussion of these factors so that the
child understands that having such feelings is part of the coping
procedure.
Stable mental health is important for proper control of diabetes.
Emotional stresses affect secretions of hormones that may counteract or
interfere with the helpful effects of insulin. How ever, stresses cannot
always be avoided easily. It is part of the human condition to react in
different ways to different situations. More stress results at some
times than at others. Situations that you meet calmly at one time may
plunge you into turmoil at another. Your health care team will discuss
dealing with the emotional component of your treatment plan. Your
emotional needs and problems will be considered along with your menu
plan, exercise plan, and therapy by insulin and other medications.
Health professionals have had experience in helping diabetic patients
cope with emotional responses to their illnesses, and their backgrounds
can help you deal with your current concerns and those of your family.
Problems such as consistently mishandling the food plan, refusing to
take insulin injections, consciously overeating, and suffering from
depression occur in some diabetics. Health care professionals know that
these situations can be handled well with the support of parents,
spouses. or significant others. As you become acquainted with your
health care team and how they can help you, you will begin to feel freer
to discuss details about your diabetes of the disease of someone you
love. Your team will help you find ways to approach everyday problems so
that solutions you find ways to approach everyday problems so that
solutions can be found quickly and a plan of compliance with physicians'
instructions can be followed more easily. When the person with diabetes
appreciates the short and long range goals of therapy compliance seems
easier and becomes a part of everyday life.
Your health care team will have many constructive ideas for you and your
family. For example, they may encourage participation in a family
therapy session to learn about family coping mechanisms along with other
families with diabetes. Such groups foster exchanges of helpful ideas
concerning the practical aspects of diabetes. They may suggest that you
use the "buddy system," working with another diabetic to reinforce
support and provide a model for adjustment to life with diabetes.
Finally, your health care team will identify existing support systems.
They will probably tell you about groups run by your local American
Diabetes Association or Juvenile Diabetes affiliate, hospital, or
community health department and the availability of social workers
trained in diabetes counseling. Being aware of existing services is the
first step toward obtaining assistance.
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