Healing Chronic Illness
By Ursula R. Stehle, Ph.D.
Most wounds heal themselves, and most infections are self-limiting. Our bodies and minds are very resilient. However, some illnesses are chronic and intricately connected with our destiny: with who we are or whom we need to become. These are conditions arising from accidents and trauma; illnesses we suffered through a generational pattern of transmission or through environmental toxins and stressors.
In injury and illness it is not the body alone that hurts: Our entire being feels hurt. We need to be seen and responded to in our pain. We have a desire to help the healing process along and to be affirmed that we are not helpless and alone in the face of injury and illness. It helps to share our experience of pain, and we're comforted knowing that others have similar feelings. Every time we're injured or sick, we respond emotionally. These responses vary from person to person and can affect healing. Part of the process of recovery is regaining confidence that we will be whole and healthy again.
But imagine those who know their condition is permanent, that they will never fully recover. That realization becomes linked to a feeling of being defective. Chronic and congenital conditions become woven into the fabric of self-worth and personality.
We're surrounded by promises of instant and total cures. Drugs companies, the medical establishment, and the media promote the belief that the right pill will end our suffering and deliver us into fulfilled new lives. Objective reality belies these promises: 70 percent of those who seek medical help have symptoms that do not fit neatly into known illnesses. Drugs prescribed for psychological problems such as depression work best for those whose symptoms recently arose and least for those whose condition is chronic or reoccurring. Research suggests that the gains observed with psychotropic drugs are not maintained; individuals who have suffered three or more episodes of depressions or other psychiatric events may be required to stay on medication their entires lives if they wish to be treated with medication alone.
Our entire culture urges us to be faster, better, and more productive; down time is bad time. Some treatment approaches tell us to just have positive thoughts, to just change our reality with new and better affirmations, or to just use imagery to recreate ourselves.
But positive thinking that ignores the realm of feelings, that does not listen to fears, doubts, and despair, will do nothing more than bury unwanted emotions and experiences. Often, what we bury re-emergers in illness and other life events. Meaning and understanding do not come from images that we put on like makeup or a new outfit. Meaning and understanding are the gifts of getting to know ourselves. Hope does not arise from illusion. Hope has its roots in acceptance of suffering; its stem represents our knowledge of life's limitations and fragility; its branches and leaves whisper of a longing for connection and a desire to grow beyond our limitations.
When we suffer illness or injury to the body, we need medical treatment that heals it. We also need to be received in our experience of wounding and suffering. We need other people and genuine relationships to remain connected to ourselves as whole and good. Healing and recovery requires incorporating the essence of the limiting condition into a meaningful life. Healing means identifying and using one's strengths, respecting limitations and frailties without succumbing to them, and finding ways to contribute to others. This process may take many years, may have many successes and defeats, and needs to focus on healing body and soul and strengthening both through the care and attention given by others. We need treatments that help us continue to develop and grow despite illness and injury; treatments that help overcome the fear that illness and circumstance can take away our humanity.
Last modified on 01.21.10
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