Chronic Illness is extremely common in the United States, with 60% of adults having at least 1 chronic disease, and 40% of adults have 2 or more chronic diseases. It is so important to not only treat the medical and physical health symptoms of chronic illness, but also to treat the mental aspects of living with chronic illness.

What is Chronic Illness?

Chronic Illnesses are defined as having 3 major traits:

• • • Chronic Illnesses Last More Than 1 Year
    • Chronic Illnesses Require Ongoing Medical Care
    • Chronic Illnesses Limit Activities of Daily Life

Common chronic illnesses include: heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, ALS, Alzheimer’s and dementia, arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, bone diseases and diseases related to smoking, alcohol, and/or drug use.

Therapy For Chronic Illness Sufferers

Everyone needs therapy from time to time; when dealing with stressful times in life, major life changes, and for simply getting through life more efficiently. Those suffering from chronic illness also take a lot of mental stress alongside the symptoms of and care of their physical health concerns.  These stresses are best mitigated with the help of a therapist.

Therapy for Terminal Illness Sufferers

When you or a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal disease it causes a wide range of emotions including shock, disbelief, anger, and other negative thoughts and feelings. “Anticipatory Grief” is when someone starts suffering the stages of grief BEFORE a person has passed away. Both a person diagnosed with a terminal disease, and the friends and family of a terminal patient can suffer from anticipatory grief.

How Do You Deal With a Loved One With Terminal Cancer or Disease?

It is the hardest thing a person can go through, knowing a loved one is going to die, and there is nothing you can do about it. It is a heavy burden to bear, and no one should go through that grief alone. Anticipatory grief should be worked through with a grief therapist.

It is important to work through your thoughts and feelings as you experience them (while a loved one is dying from a chronic illness), instead of keeping them bottled up to be dealt with later — which is actually an impulsive self-defense mechanism. Bottling up your grief until later only leads to more issues with regret, self blame, survivor guilt, and other negative retrospective issues.

Therapy for Diabetics

Therapy for diabetes sufferers is extremely important because of the major lifestyle impact that diabetes has as a chronic illness. Diabetes is an illness that is with you always, and affects every minor detail of your life. It is important for diabetics to share their struggles, achievements and stressors with a one-one-one therapist or within group therapy for diabetics. Therapy also helps diabetes sufferers to adhere to their testing schedules and a healthy diet.

Therapy for Chronic Oral Health & Teeth Issues

Teeth and oral health are always considered a separate category of health from your body and brain health — in terms of practice, insurance, and focuses. But just as chronic health issues can effect mental health, so can chronic oral health issues affect mental health.

A person who suffers months or even years of chronic tooth pain can also be dealing with depression, anxiety, poor self esteem, substance abuse issues, and other negative side effects that are often overlooked. It is extremely important that tooth pain and oral health issue sufferers know they have access to mental health counseling and therapy for concerns.

Quite often, a person with bad teeth, tooth, pain or oral health issues may feel very embarrassed or ashamed of their condition. This can be very detrimental to self esteem and overall mental health. It is so critical to nurture a person with therapy, and keep them going while they deal with the dental side of healing.

Therapy For Unexplained Chronic Illnesses

Quite often, doctors cannot give a diagnosis for a person’s chronic illness – either because the illness is rare and cannot be named; or because doctors do not believe that there is a disease present, believing rather that the symptoms are “somatic,” or “all in their head.”

The later can be a frustrating experience for chronic illness sufferers, especially if multiple doctors and specialists cannot find a root cause for the chronic illness symptoms. At The Arizona Relationship Institute, we treat cases of Chronic Unexplained Illness twofold: 

• • 1. Our Integrated Doctors and Nurse Practitioners Begin Diagnostic Work to Try and Diagnose a Known Illness or Reason for the Symptoms
       • Allergists test for allergies, hay fever, asthma, etc.
       • Nutritionists check diet and health to rule out eating disorders, malnutrition, and vitamin deficiencies.
       • Our integrated pain, chiropractic specialists, and clinical massage therapists diagnose or rule-out bone, muscle, and nerve damage or diseases.
       • Integrated Team of Doctors specializing in Medication and Clinical Needs rule out medications causing side effects, drug and alcohol use (both present and past use), and medication interactions/accidental poisonings, etc.
    2. Our Therapists tackle the mental side of diagnostics. Their skills with diagnosing the root causes of mental health concerns can also lead doctors and clinicians to find previously missed symptoms. Therapists can help connect dots between mental and physical symptoms to draw a clearer picture of what the chronic illness actually is.

How To Get Started With Therapy For Chronic Illness

To get started on your own unique plan for therapy, you simply start your Free 15 Minute Consultation with The Arizona Relationship Institute in Mesa, AZ. We have a number of therapists, associate therapists, and student interns that can meet a wide range of therapy needs.  Call or Contact Us Today!