Bury (1991) also emphasized on the active coping in response to chronic illness. "It refers to cognitive processes whereby individuals learn to tolerate their illness and maintain a sense of value and meaning in life, in spite of symptoms and their effects" (Bury, 1991:461). Examples of coping include normalization the impact of illness so that the effects on identity are minimized. According to Bury (2001) there are two processes of normalization. People normalize in the sense of keeping their pre-illness lifestyle and identity intact by either maintaining as many pre-illness activities as possible and/or by minimizing symptoms.
Despite the criticisms to the biographical disruption theory, it is still in use in sociological research to explore the experience of individuals living with chronic …show more content…
Bury describes chronic illnesses as biographical disruption of everyday life as indicated earlier and Charmaz describes chronic illnesses as a disruptor to self-identity. Charmaz ties the term loss of self with suffering. She defines loss of self as experiencing one's "former self-images crumbling away without the simultaneous development of equally valued new ones (self-image)" (Charmaz, 1983: 168).
Charmaz (1983) coined the term loss of self, with her research in 1980s, by interviewing individuals with chronic illness using symbolic interactionist perspectives. In her study, she finds the loss of self develops from the chronic condition(s) and the illness experience. Charmaz describes client's illness experience as living a restricted life, experiencing social isolation, being discredited, and burdening others. Slowly individuals with chronic illness feel their self-image disappear, a loss of self, without the development of an equally valued new one (Charmaz, 1983:
Despite the criticisms to the biographical disruption theory, it is still in use in sociological research to explore the experience of individuals living with chronic …show more content…
Bury describes chronic illnesses as biographical disruption of everyday life as indicated earlier and Charmaz describes chronic illnesses as a disruptor to self-identity. Charmaz ties the term loss of self with suffering. She defines loss of self as experiencing one's "former self-images crumbling away without the simultaneous development of equally valued new ones (self-image)" (Charmaz, 1983: 168).
Charmaz (1983) coined the term loss of self, with her research in 1980s, by interviewing individuals with chronic illness using symbolic interactionist perspectives. In her study, she finds the loss of self develops from the chronic condition(s) and the illness experience. Charmaz describes client's illness experience as living a restricted life, experiencing social isolation, being discredited, and burdening others. Slowly individuals with chronic illness feel their self-image disappear, a loss of self, without the development of an equally valued new one (Charmaz, 1983: