Medical Diagnoses: How Can Therapy Help?

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about systems. Well, as a relationally and systematically trained therapist I am always thinking about systems. But lately, as we’ve seen cuts to healthcare, misinformation about medical diagnoses and treatments, funding withdrawn from institutions that do meaningful and life changing research, and reductions in social services I am confronted with how disconnected, fractured, and unreliable our institutional care is for people navigating chronic or lifelong illness.

In the last few years my aunt has been struggling with chronic pain in her arm. She’s been to specialist after specialist, none of which will talk to each other. I have clients who are tasked with being the expert on their diagnosis, playing telephone between healthcare providers, and feeling consistently invalidated and under-resourced.

When working with clients with chronic or lifelong illness, there are so many areas to explore, but like all work that incorporates grief the process isn’t linear and it’s not the same week to week. There are weeks with more reprieve, new information, or encouragement, and weeks of feeling stuck, in increasing pain, or hopeless. And while I know that chronic or lifelong illness can feel daunting and uncertain, there are many ways therapy can support you.

We can explore your mind/body connection, build your support networks, and process the ambiguous losses (in addition to thinking about systems I’m also always thinking about ambiguous loss). We can gather and organize the information you do have and identify what you’re still seeking. We can hold space for the emotional experience, experiment with creative outlets, and places of purpose. We can name the institutional failures and develop coping strategies for both the process and the physical experience. We can facilitate your discernment about new or different treatment options–ranging from medical treatments, pain management programs, different models of therapy, or more–and navigate the stress of the financial impacts. Most importantly we can meet you where you are in this process and move alongside you through uncertainty, hope, and grief.