Are you suffering from a medical condition? Are you impacted socially, educationally, vocationally, relationship-wise, financially, and in any other ways?

 

Upon diagnosis with a medical problem, either as the result of an accident or an illness, you may experience medical trauma. Being in a hospital or other medical setting and receiving the news that you have a sudden medical condition often causes a traumatic reaction. This trauma needs to be treated. After processing the trauma, you are left with multiple issues in order to reach optimal functioning in dealing with the medical problem. A common example is the adolescent with Juvenile Diabetes. He/she may be stable and maintain good levels of glucose in the blood and maintain an appropriate diet. However, during adolescence, it is common for him/her to begin to test limits with diet and with medication management. The adolescent often tries to test limits in many areas of life. While common, it is also dangerous with diabetes. A similar example could be a person who develops Crohn’s Disease. 

 

Therapy is helpful in processing feelings and maintaining an optimal regimen of diet, medication management, and medical treatments. You need to be able to adjust to your new situation, to process the emotional issues of the sudden change in your life, and arrive at a state of acceptance of your new reality. The therapy may include grieving over what was lost.

 

My treatment model for trauma resulting from medical issues includes:

        -   Processing the trauma, if any;

        -   going through a grieving process for the things that were lost due to the medical problem;

        -   developing coping mechanisms for the new reality;

        -   cognitive behavior therapy;

        -   guided imagery;

        -   eye movement programming;

        -   prolonged exposure to the trauma while in a safe place;

        -   ​​​​​​​ongoing supportive therapy.