Chronic illness can be exhausting and can take a toll not only on the physical body but on one’s mental health as well. Long-term duration of pain or struggling with a difficult diagnosis can seem unending and can make one feel defeated by their illness. Illnesses like cancer, chronic pain, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis are all examples of chronic illnesses that are long-standing and can make daily life and activities a challenge. The mental toll of health issues can cause feelings of isolation, depression, anxiety, and stress. Counseling can offer practical tools to best tackle the everyday battle of chronic illness through coping strategies, strengthening the mental state, providing emotional support, and improving social support. You can fight back against your physical challenges through strength-based strategies and learn how to thrive mentally and emotionally.
The Benefits of Counseling for Persistent Conditions
A chronic illness is never something we plan for. But one day, you get a diagnosis from your healthcare provider, and suddenly, your world, and the world of your loved ones, is turned upside down. Having a counselor can help you navigate uncertainty and draw out your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. By feeling your negative emotions, instead of stuffing them down inside of you, you can often turn your pain into unimaginable strength.
Some Benefits of Counseling include:
1. Emotional Support
One of the most important roles a counselor provides in the counseling room is to foster an environment that is supportive, safe, and collaborative to help clients accomplish their goals. A counselor can give the client a safe space to discuss their fears, pain, and worries and process the myriad of emotions one experiences as one navigates chronic illness.
2. Coping Strategies
Finding coping skills that help to combat the physical and mental pains of a long-term condition can help individuals implement techniques that can foster a healthier mental state. Techniques such as drawing on support from family and friends, positive self-talk, journaling, relaxation exercises, healthy eating habits, exercise, and cognitive behavioral techniques can challenge negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and replace them with positive ones.
3. Resilience
Counseling can help an individual develop a sense of resilience against their struggles. Clients can learn that they have autonomy over their illness and can find ways to overcome their physical pain instead of being debilitated by it. Through building resilience, clients can set goals for themselves and find accomplishment and strength through the positive change in their lives that they implement.
4. Support System
Close relationships with family, friends, a partner, or a church can help individuals feel supported and encouraged when they’re not able to be strong on their own. Sharing with those you love and trust about your illness can help you to feel like you’re not alone and that others deeply care for you.
5. Navigating Healthcare
When diagnosed with a persistent disease, one may feel overwhelmed by the numerous treatments, doctor appointments, and sudden changes that accompany this issue. A counselor can offer guidance and support as clients navigate their healthcare needs and what is best for them.
Chronic Illness: A Biblical Lens
2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
This passage of scripture highlights how God and his strength are perfect in our weakness. The Lord draws near to those who are hurting and instructs us to find rest in him. Matthew emphasizes to come to him all you who are weary, and I will give you rest. It is profound that in more than one passage in the Bible, the Lord draws even closer to those who are weak, hurting, weary, and low. In hardship, in difficulty, the Lord is made strong and meets us in our turmoil, pain, and suffering. In the midst of chronic illness, when things seem to be hopeless, the Bible reminds us that God is even more present and we can rest our pain on him, and he will give us rest. As counselors, we pray that you can use coping skills, lean on your loved ones, and trust in His promises that he is there for you. Through counseling, we hope to equip you with practical skills and Biblical principles to help ease the burdens of an ongoing ailment.
If you’d like to speak to someone and learn practical strategies to help you live your life to the fullest, please reach out to me.
