How Chronic Illness Affects the Family By Drew Washer, LCSW and Member of the SLO Noor Board of Directors When trying to understand illness and the effects it has on people, we must look at the intertwining of three evolutionary threads, the illness, the person and the illness, and the family life cycle. Each has its own developmental process that will affect each other. Just as each of us has our personality, each illness has its own personality and expected outcome. There is a psychosocial typology of an illness that helps us to look at the relationship between the family, the individual and the dynamics of a chronic illness. Each chronic illness has an onset, course and outcome plus a degree of incapacitation. An illness can have a sudden outset, such as a stroke or heart attack or a gradual onset such as Parkinson’s disease or arthritis. An acute onset compresses change, with rapid mobilization of resources and response from the medical team and family, while a gradual onset has a more protracted period and time to move toward acceptance and adjustment. The outcome of the chronic illness or the degree in which it will shorten one’s life or likely to cause death are critical features with profound psychosocial impact on the person and their family. The “it could happen at any time” nature of the illness can cause a family to be overprotective. The course of an illness can have major impact on a family. There are three types of courses of chronic illness, progressive, such as Alzheimer’s disease, constant –course, such as a stroke or spinal cord injury and relapsing or episodic, such as asthma or multiple sclerosis which can have stable periods and then periods of flare ups. Take the example of a father, who is a carpenter and primary financial provider who develops multiple sclerosis. At first his level of impairment is mild. He can continue to work. Because his children are teens, his wife is able to work part-time to help out. The kids are unaffected. Two years later the father experiences a rapid progression of his illness leaving him totally disabled. Now his son, who had dreams of going to college, needs to change his plans and stay home to work and help care for his father. This example demonstrates the clash between impact of an illness and the developmental issues within the family. As you can see there is a multi-generational effect of an illness as the family moves through development transitions that can be interspersed with loss and crisis. At the SLO NOOR Foundation we work with patients to establish a healthy working relationship with their healthcare providers, learn about their illness and plan how to manage their illness. It is in these times of uncertainty, that we can help patients and their families learn a “new normal” and preserve a sense of mastery and competence within the family.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 22:41:10 +0000