Many families in Canada and around the world live with a person who has one or more chronic condition. Chronic conditions can include illnesses such as Cancer or Diabetes; conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Crohn’s disease; and mental health issues like depression or schizophrenia. No matter what the variation is, any kind of chronic condition can have detrimental effects on families. This paper will explore the concept of chronicity within a family, focusing on the negative effects that it can have but also highlighting resilience and strength of spirit as well.
Through the months of September and October I had two meetings with a local woman, AA and her two sons and one meeting with just her and I, to learn about how her chronic …show more content…
By keeping her illness hidden from her children, she is doing her best to hide her distress from them and keep some semblance of normal. Unfortunately, Ferro and Boyle (2015) found that even when experiencing a depressive episode parents are more likely to direct negative emotion at her children, which can result in diminished psychological functioning; therefore, even when AA is doing her best, her emotions might be betraying her. Although AA works hard to mange her money, the fact that she is low income also puts her children at higher risk of being negatively affected by her condition (Chen & Fish, …show more content…
Growing up with a neglectful and discouraging mother, one can assume that AA missed some of the accomplishments in Erikson’s theory such as underdevelopment of both, initiative and industry. AA met her husband shortly after moving out of her grandmother’s house at the age of eighteen. In this time she was supposed to be forming her sense of identity and establishing close, personal relationships but instead she was living to please her husband and spiraling down into depression, codependency, and abuse (Salkind, 2004). She is now living single and struggling to maintain her motivation while entering into relationships with married men or substance abusers. AA recognizes these relationships as being bad for herself and her health; she credits her feelings of unworthiness and a desire for self-destruction.
Missing out on any of Erikson’s stages can lead to dysfunction and maladaptive responses to challenging situations. With luck, AA’s counselling and continued self-care activities, such as exercise and journaling, can help her accomplish the task of intimacy instead of isolation. She enrolled in college this fall and she sees that as a step to becoming a better person, again falling back
Through the months of September and October I had two meetings with a local woman, AA and her two sons and one meeting with just her and I, to learn about how her chronic …show more content…
By keeping her illness hidden from her children, she is doing her best to hide her distress from them and keep some semblance of normal. Unfortunately, Ferro and Boyle (2015) found that even when experiencing a depressive episode parents are more likely to direct negative emotion at her children, which can result in diminished psychological functioning; therefore, even when AA is doing her best, her emotions might be betraying her. Although AA works hard to mange her money, the fact that she is low income also puts her children at higher risk of being negatively affected by her condition (Chen & Fish, …show more content…
Growing up with a neglectful and discouraging mother, one can assume that AA missed some of the accomplishments in Erikson’s theory such as underdevelopment of both, initiative and industry. AA met her husband shortly after moving out of her grandmother’s house at the age of eighteen. In this time she was supposed to be forming her sense of identity and establishing close, personal relationships but instead she was living to please her husband and spiraling down into depression, codependency, and abuse (Salkind, 2004). She is now living single and struggling to maintain her motivation while entering into relationships with married men or substance abusers. AA recognizes these relationships as being bad for herself and her health; she credits her feelings of unworthiness and a desire for self-destruction.
Missing out on any of Erikson’s stages can lead to dysfunction and maladaptive responses to challenging situations. With luck, AA’s counselling and continued self-care activities, such as exercise and journaling, can help her accomplish the task of intimacy instead of isolation. She enrolled in college this fall and she sees that as a step to becoming a better person, again falling back