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An excerpt from The
Introduction
You Don’t Look Sick! Joy H. Selak & Dr. Steven S. Overman
DR. OVERMAN Joy and I had already spent some time talking about her three stages of illness when I heard Dr. Patricia Fennell speak about her own research on chronic illness. It gave credence to Joy's experience that Dr. Fennell also divided chronic illness into three major phases. She labeled them Crisis, Stabilization, and Integration. Crisis includes the anger, fear, and loss Joy experienced while getting sick. In the second phase, Stabilization, Joy accepted being sick and began to put into action a plan for managing her illness and her life. Finally, During Dr. Fennell's third phase, Integration, Joy truly accepted her illness as a part of her life and began living well; she found value, meaning and purpose in her new life. Dr. Fennell also discusses the grief that is woven throughout the Getting Sick and Being Sick phases. The deepest episode of grief commonly occurs after patients feel they have searched for answers and tried everything and done everything that has been asked of them, but still cannot reclaim their pre-sickness life. This grief is filled with the sadness and torment of a deep personal loss and they will have to find their own way to resolve it in order to move on to Living Well. I have learned from my patients that achieving Integration, or learning to live well with their illness, is not like reaching a destination. They frequently experience repeated episodes of anger, fear and loss. It is a difficult challenge to accept that no matter how well they manage their illness, their symptoms are now part of their life. As in Joy's case, they must eventually accept the loss of their old lives before they can begin living well. |