Health psychologists deal with a wide range of chronic health issues on a daily basis from diabetes to addiction. One chronic health issue that individuals experience that is often seen by health psychologists is arthritis. This essay will discuss the problems experience with patients with arthritis and their families, psychological theories used to describe and treat arthritic pain, the issues discussed in literature, and coping with arthritis.
What is Arthritis? Arthritis is not a single disease – instead, it can be broken down into more than a hundred different diseases, each displaying their own unique symptoms and pain. Commonly, arthritis symptoms are swelling, pain, and stiffness of joints which leads to a decrease in the range of …show more content…
More than one third of people who have some form of arthritis attest to having pain that limits their ability to do simple tasks. Seeing a loved one in pain may make family members upset and sometimes feel helpless because they are not able to do anything to help. At the same time, patients can feel like a burden for being so dependent on their loved ones all the time which leads to harm in their mental status which can lead to even more physical pain which leads to the next point. Patients with arthritis often struggle with self help. Sometimes the pain for these patients becomes too great that they cannot perform a simple task but feel ashamed because of it and do not ask for help. While it may be hard for these patients to admit they need help, it is necessary in order to keep them healthy. Doing activities – even simple ones – while in pain may cause symptoms to flare up and puts a lot of stress on the joints (Stack, et. al., …show more content…
One area that is on the forefront of this topic is the relationship between arthritis and depression. In a study done with fifty arthritic patients it was shown that the higher the pain intensity, the more depressed the patient was. It was pointed out earlier in the essay that a person’s mental state can directly affect the amount of pain they are experiencing. What is unknown to health care professionals is: does the depression cause the pain or does the pain cause the depression? The study with the arthritic patients was concluded by stating that depression predicts the level of pain a patient will experience (Scheidt, et. al., 2014). However, this question is continuously discussed and debated amongst those professionals who work with arthritic
What is Arthritis? Arthritis is not a single disease – instead, it can be broken down into more than a hundred different diseases, each displaying their own unique symptoms and pain. Commonly, arthritis symptoms are swelling, pain, and stiffness of joints which leads to a decrease in the range of …show more content…
More than one third of people who have some form of arthritis attest to having pain that limits their ability to do simple tasks. Seeing a loved one in pain may make family members upset and sometimes feel helpless because they are not able to do anything to help. At the same time, patients can feel like a burden for being so dependent on their loved ones all the time which leads to harm in their mental status which can lead to even more physical pain which leads to the next point. Patients with arthritis often struggle with self help. Sometimes the pain for these patients becomes too great that they cannot perform a simple task but feel ashamed because of it and do not ask for help. While it may be hard for these patients to admit they need help, it is necessary in order to keep them healthy. Doing activities – even simple ones – while in pain may cause symptoms to flare up and puts a lot of stress on the joints (Stack, et. al., …show more content…
One area that is on the forefront of this topic is the relationship between arthritis and depression. In a study done with fifty arthritic patients it was shown that the higher the pain intensity, the more depressed the patient was. It was pointed out earlier in the essay that a person’s mental state can directly affect the amount of pain they are experiencing. What is unknown to health care professionals is: does the depression cause the pain or does the pain cause the depression? The study with the arthritic patients was concluded by stating that depression predicts the level of pain a patient will experience (Scheidt, et. al., 2014). However, this question is continuously discussed and debated amongst those professionals who work with arthritic