Chronic conditions can touch every aspect of our experience as human beings. Not only must one endure the condition's symptoms, but we must also adjust our functioning around the condition:

• Time and effort in seeking treatment and answers

• Adjustment to daily personal, professional, and household routines to accommodate symptoms, limited functioning, and care

• Changes to identity as we may limit activities that we may have enjoyed but are no longer possible

• New levels of interdependence

• Internal and emotional responses to these adjustments; guilt, confusion, pain, disconnection, disappointment

 

And this is just to name a few.

 

A trusted therapeutic relationship can support us in navigating these changes, giving us a space to confide and explore the more treacherous aspects of long-term illness. Engaging in both a sounding board and a banister along the way can help us through, finding compassion and solace in the face of the pain and gracelessness that often accompany chronic conditions.