In the past the main cause of illness was related
to infections and bacterial pathogens’. Today most of the diseases are related with
behavioral and environmental factors. Cancer is the second leading chronic
disease in the USA. People diagnosed with cancer face not just atrocious
physical symptoms but also cancer is accompanied by social and psychological
problems. Being diagnosed with cancer in the onset of your life is
overwhelming, all this normal life activities change; dreams are uncertain,
pretty much life stops. A lot of people reported experiencing high levels of
stress before the getting a cancer diagnosed; stressors can be a divorce, lost of job or the deceased of a
love one. This is why researches suggest that cancer and chronic diseases are
related to stress and the way we face traumatic experiences. Individuals
display different levels of tolerance to stress, this depends on the person and
life experience.
As a human being we
are exposed to factors that makes us prone to anxiety and others manifestations
of fear. In the first place our biology, yes! Again … our hereditary traits
make us cautious and vigilant this resulting on the activation of our
sympathetic part of our nervous system. Luckily, we are not completely fixed by
our hereditary traits…. we are continuously evolving and adapting to new
environmental changes. The second factor but not less important is environment.
We sometimes have complicated life’s, full of responsibilities. For example a
person that usually wants to do a lot, and get involved in a lot of activities at
the same time is more likely to suffer from episodic acute stress. I know while you reading this sounds very familiar..These individual are commonly aroused, irritable, anxious, tense, always have
pessimistic predictions: “the what if”. These individuals also are considered
cardiac prone type A personality.
How do we help our selves, where
and what are the tools?? Keep calm and use your coping skills! Coping is a mechanism that use our
cognitive and behavioral resources to tolerate and reduce stress, amazing
no? In other words we have the power of
regulating our emotions with this resources.
People that present high levels of self-efficacy and perceived control
are more likely to deal successfully with stressors such as a chronic illness. Individuals
that face difficult situations are more likely to make a great use of their external
resources (money, time, job, family
ect). There are two types of coping strategies: problem focus and emotion
focus. Problem focus coping strategy consists on trying to eliminate the
stressor or solving the problem. As we know we are talking here about a chronic
illness. Being realistic, cancer for example is not something you can eliminate
and solve at the moment. For these reason this coping strategy is not always
the best one. My favorite is emotion focus coping. Why? if we master this strategy we learn to
control, change and regulate our emotions. A cancer patient for example that
master this strategy would experience emotional distress within manageable limits. In
conclusion, thinking positive does not eliminates our problems, but it does give
us a better quality of life.
Sanderson, C. A. (2013). Health Psychology. NJ, NY:
Hoboken.
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