More Than Sick: Chronic Illness and Identity
Hello FPA! Today I want to share some thoughts with you about how we can untangle our identities from our medical and mental health illnesses.
In our fast-paced world of diagnoses, prescriptions, and quick fixes, it can be easy to forget a simple truth: you are more than your symptoms. You are something more than your anxiety or your high blood pressure. You are a whole person. This is especially relevant if you are a person with a severe or chronic illness.
At FPA, we believe in whole person care. I've written before about my treatment model as systemic- meaning all parts of us are connected to all other parts of us. Being a daughter impacts being a mother. Being a friend impacts being a colleague. The same is true for your medical conditions. Having a chronic illness, such as an autoimmune disorder, impacts so much more than your immune system. It impacts how available you can be socially, how much energy you have to play with your children, how many days you need to call off from work during a flare up. Already the disorder has cost you social wellbeing, familial wellbeing, and vocational wellbeing.
In the practice of healthcare, systemic treatment means looking beyond isolated issues and understanding how different parts of your life connect. Physical, emotional, social, and cultural contexts are all part of the same story. I see every day how interconnected these pieces are. A patient coming in for chronic headaches may also be coping with grief. Someone with high blood pressure may also be experiencing loneliness or burnout. Someone with depression might have been neglecting basic healthcare during an episode, avoiding seeing their doctor. Someone with severe anxiety might have a hard time getting themselves to a medical office for necessary healthcare. Someone receiving a scary diagnosis, like any form of cancer, might experience hopelessness, anxiety, dread, or other intense emotions that prevent them from living, working, and connecting in the ways they want to.
Whole person care means asking questions about the intersections of health and wellbeing. What does your body need? What does your mind need? What is your mind telling you about what your body needs? What does your support system look like? Managing severe or chronic illnesses means living life as a whole person, not just as an oncology patient or a rheumatology patient.
When it feels like your illness has taken so much from you, in some cases a literal part of your body has been removed, remind yourself of your personhood, beyond just your problem. You aren't just a cancer patient, you're also an artist, a parent, and a Wildcats fan. You aren't just a lupus patient, you're also a sister, a teacher, and a horse rider.
Dear ones, be cautious not to reduce yourself. Don't lose yourself to your illness. You're not your lab results, or your diagnostic profile. You are a complex and whole human. Your diagnoses and illnesses are certainly a part of you, and have a wide web of impact in your life, but there is so much more to you than your sickness!
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