Chronic Illness

Illness is never a pretty scene, it can leave a devastating path of destruction. Illness embodies many complex meanings encrypted within a text, and it's rarely just illness. Sickness can show paralysis of a character, the character can be unknowing death, it can show symbolic immortal, or illustrate wholesome destruction. The French Revolution was a battle between the the wealthy and the poverty stricken, and with poverty comes disease. Illness illustrates many pictures, and the physical illness usually ends up a bonus to the story; this can be seen embodied within The Tale of Two Cities.

Vast amounts of money are being spent on the treatment of these illnesses (to say nothing of the pain and discomfort that is endured by the sufferer), yet the number of patients continues to increase. With the right education, however, many people could be helped to understand the causes of their problems

While most of the population has not attended medical school for six or more years, every patient still needs to understand what is wrong with them. Similarly, while readers of a medical narrative aren’t experts on the medical topics they are reading about, but they still need to understand the story. Books written about illness can be confusing for a reader who isn’t familiar with that condition, which makes the author's job to explain the condition, while still maintaining an interesting story line. Metaphors and similes help to bridge the gap of understanding between patients and doctors, and readers and authors. When someone is unfamiliar with medical terms, giving a scientific definition of a diagnosis does no good, that is

Leventhal’s model of self-regulation is based on the idea that each person forms a cognitive representation of their illness, which allows them to make sense of their symptoms. This illness perception and the patient’s emotional response then guide behaviour towards managing the illness (Leventhal et al., 1984). An illness perception is made up of five major components. These are illness identity, potential cause, timeline, its consequences and how it may be controlled. Often patients with similar diseases can hold very different perceptions of their illness (Petrie and Weinman, 2012). Clinical severity of the condition does not necessarily predict how a patient will cope. This essay will outline strengths and weaknesses of whether the model can be used to explain health outcomes and coping strategies, implement successful interventions and predict or even improve adherence to treatment. Finally, the importance of constructs not included in the model, such as social support, will be discussed. The essay will evaluate the model using examples of illnesses such as stroke, cancer, diabetes and asthma.

When someone is suffering or living with a chronic illness it can have a huge impact on them psychologically and socially. Chronic Illness is a condition that is prolonged in duration, usually more than 3 months and is rarely cured (DoH, 2012). Having to cope with a chronic condition might lead to life changes, such as dependency on others, loss of income, which can cause feelings of loss and reduced self-esteem. They can also report feelings of social rejection, poor healthcare and workplace termination due to their presenting condition (Earnshaw, Quinn, & Park, 2011).

First of all, I recognized that I was dealing with humans, and not just dealing with a disease process and application of the nursing process in the aspect of restoring patient health. I was dealing with emotions, and families, and cultural beliefs that influenced individual’s aspects of care. I started to see that health did not just incorporate healing the disease, but also recognized the importance of making sure patient’s felt that their

The poem (title of poem) depicts a moment of a woman's stay at the hospital, where she experiences pain and depression. The author of the poem engages with and addresses major themes such as detachment in biomedicine, experience of being in the hospital from the patient’s perspective, the meaning of illness, and the experience of illness for the patient. The narrative can be compared to Arthur Kleinman’s the Illness Narratives, Meri Nana-Ama Danquah’s Willow Weep for Me, Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper.”

Over the last one hundred years there has been a great change in the way nurses, doctors, and others in the medical field, as well as the general public, have come to view health and wellness. Where once health was thought to only be comprised of our physical body and the physical things that affect it, we now know that health encompasses so much more. We know that who we are is made up not only of the physical body, but also of mind, and spirit (Koerner, 2011), and that this not only affects each of us individually but also those

Proof written by David Auburn goes through the life of an esteemed mathematician plagued by mental illness. In the beginning of the play Proof we are introduced to a professor at a local Chicago College named Robert. We first are introduced to Robert through a delusion of Catherine’s, another main protagonist of David auburns play. Auburn shows Robert’s genius and madness at various stages throughout the play. Auburn goes on throughout his play to exemplify the impact mental illness has on everyday family life.

In the book, How To Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster, the author, talks about diseases in literature and how they are never what they seem to be. The symptoms and the side effects all mean something more than the disease- or at least they do in literary diseases. He also states that there are 3 key elements to know if a disease or fever is significant to the plot and the character. First of all, the patient is usually very picturesque in the sense that their body and appearance shows their deterioration. Secondly, the patient does not know the whereabouts of their disease and would not know he or she acquired it - a mystery factor. Lastly, there is always symbolism about the character’s lifestyle and their actions that is shown through the disease. Overall, Foster claims that literary diseases almost always have a deeper meaning than what they seem to be or cause

The Medicine Wheel was created by the First Nations people. According to Mussell (2005), the Medicine Wheel is “a symbol used to represent the dynamic system of mind, body, emotions, and spirit” (pg.115). Within the Medicine Wheel there are four categories of needs which an individual should strive to be fulfilled. Once fulfilled, these needs help one find the true meaning of their existence. The divisions within the Medicine Wheel include physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. I believe I have moderately defined concept about what I need to fulfill my physical, emotional, and intellectual needs. Conversely, I have conflict with understanding my spiritual needs.

Furthermore, in this book, Frank argues that the modernist perception of disease is a structure of "colonization," which also means that the sick individual surrender his or her body, and the narrative of his or her life to biomedical skill. In a post-modern conception, the sick individuals will find the defense and strength to tell their own story, regain the expert and energy to recount his or her own story. It takes one to create a new lifestyle narrative from the

Most medical treatment for chronic pain includes from pharmaceutical treatments for pain management, which can range from over-the-counter medicines like aspirin to prescription drugs. The problem with chronic pain management treatments that involve drugs is that they lose their effectiveness. Worse they actually can create more chronic or that can add to the chronic pain cycle.

Cancer. A six-letter word used to describe a person’s horoscope, while others contribute this word to an obstacle in their life. Everyday forty-three children learn their lives are going to change due to the awful condition of cancer (“Childhood Cancer Statistics,” n.d.). These children’s’ lives are turned upside down as they are taken out of school, spend many nights in the hospital, and are dependent on medications. One medication in which many of the children have enjoyed is art therapy. Medical art therapy is a way for children to express their emotions through imagery when dealing with an illness or going through extensive treatment (“Primary Psychiatry,”2008). Art therapy has been proven to be beneficial to the quality of life for those

Understanding the potential health challenges a patient may face is something that is required for holistic care. The comorbidity of the patient’s