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Psychology And Chronic Illnesses Essay

522 Words3 Pages

The role that psychology plays in chronic illnesses can be described by health behaviours, illness beliefs, and number of psychological models and theories. To better understand what this encompasses Let us consider the impact of cancer and the psychological factors that is experienced with this chronic illness

Cancer is chronic illness that is defined s an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, that can either be benign (not harmful) or malignant ( deadly). Since the body is composed of cells, any part of the body can develop cancer. In regards to cancer, factors to consider are; Behavioral factors: According to Ogden, “Up to 75% of all cancers are linked to behaviors such as smoking, poor diet, alcohol and sexual behavior." (Ogden. 2017). Individual health beliefs and behavior thus plays a big role on the initiation, detection and treatment phase. This factor influences the experience one have with cancer, when and how they seek medical help, and the way they deal with the pain and changes that ensues. Experiencing chronic illness leads to a lot of physical symptoms in the person which has in turn has a negative effect on the person's behaviour.

Stress factor: "Stress has also been shown to have a role in cancer particularly if the stressor." (Ogden. 2017). This may be through the direct …show more content…

The physical symptoms, reduced abilities, financial worries and relationship challenges of chronic illness can to the development of strong feelings of self-doubt and worthlessness. There is some evidence that chronic mild depression, but not clinical depression, may be related to cancer. Again this may be due to changes in behaviour. Sometimes the decreased self-esteem leads to feelings of guilt and a tendency toward social isolation. Isolation and guilt further damages a person’s self-image, creating a vicious cycle of negativity that can be difficult to

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