Health Psychology for a Patient with Diabetes - Report Example

Health Psychology

Introduction

Ranked as one of the chronic diseases, diabetes has shown a gradual increase in prevalence and severity. Apart from the deterioration of a patient’s physical health, the disease has psychological effects that could impair a patient’s quality of life (Davies, 2010). The psychological effects are brought about by the patients’ level of tolerance of the daily activities involved in the control of the disease. Such activities involve the injection of insulin for sugar control and the treatment of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia (Davies, 2010). The activities could have an adverse effect on the patient’s psychological aspects if the right level of support is not received from practitioners and other individuals that are close to the patient. This contributes to the need for clinicians and researchers to explore the psychological aspects related to diabetes. This paper critically discusses the psychological aspects of the disease with a critical analysis of current research literature to understand the knowledge in the field and provides directions for future research.

Discussion

One of the major psychological aspects associated with diabetes is depression. Diabetes requires patient to make significant life style changes that include a change in their diet and an increase in physical exercises (Yang, 2011). Self-management behaviors of the adaptation of such lifestyle changes could lead to depression (Chew, 2014). Such behaviors could impose a substantial burden on a diabetes patient increasing their chances of showing depression symptoms. Depression relates to a heightened level of stress for a prolonged period that could result into other worse conditions or disorders such as poor glycemic control and recurrent hypoglycemia. The management of diabetes could include the administration of prescribed insulin or the utility of noninsulin medications. In addition, the management could also rely on lifestyle and dietary changes as the only interventions for the management of diabetes. The level of depression is affected by the method prescribed for a patient in the management of diabetes. For instance, the type 2 diabetes patients that have an insulin prescription have recorded a high rate of depression, as compared to the other methods of diabetes management. The depression is not caused by the insulin directly, but caused by the process of insulin administration that imposes a burden to the patient due to the self-management procedures.

In addition, anxiety is another major psychological aspect related to diabetes. Individuals with diabetes have increased prevalence of disorders that result from anxiety in comparison to individuals without diabetes (Yang, 2011). The individuals that have diabetes with a high risk of suffering from anxiety disorders include younger individuals, women, those that have suffered a prolonged period with diabetes, and individuals that suffer from other medical conditions (Greener, 2015). Some of the anxiety disorders associated with diabetes include the fear of complications, invasive procedures, and hypoglycemia. Individuals suffering from both types of diabetes have shown a heightened level of worry of the high probability of suffering from long-term complications that could result from diabetes. The anxiety from hypoglycemia among individuals with diabetes occurs from the counter regulatory hormonal response such as adrenalin and temporary cognitive conditions. Anxiety from self-invasive procedures is related to the fear of perpetual monitoring of one’s glucose levels, fear of insertion of dermatological insulin infusion devices, and the fear of injections.

Moreover, diabetes could cause severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and other devastating mental disorders (Yang, 2011). This could be due to stigmatization that usually affects individuals with diabetes. For instance, an individual may hesitate to proceed with a relationship with their significant other if they realized that they are suffering from diabetes. In addition, the mental disorder could be as a result of low socioeconomic status associated with diabetes. In various instances, individuals that suffer from diabetes lack the support they require including medical coverage, as insurance firms require them to pay higher premiums due to their preexisting condition. Furthermore, increased levels of discrimination could cause the mental illnesses to individuals suffering from diabetes (Chew, 2014). For instance, certain organizations could show low levels of preference in hiring individuals that suffer from diabetes due to the increased medical contributions that they have to make, which is a provision of the law. The decreased level of employment for individuals with diabetes could lead to low-income generation among the population, which could subsequently lead to a disruption in the maintenance of health care. This could consequently lead to mental illnesses, as it becomes costly to manage the condition.

Diabetes demands both emotional and cognitive attention of an individual, which poses a range or risk factors to the patients, in relation to psychological conditions. The literature provides that such psychological conditions could become incident during the diabetes development process (Davies, 2010). However, it is critical for researchers to consider undertaking more studies on the psychological aspects that could increase the prevalence of diabetes. Interventions on psychological disorders could lead to the improvement of glycemic control, which could reduce the levels of diabetes and thus decrease the psychological effects that result from poor glycemic control. As the rates of diabetes increase globally and the subsequent increase in psychological conditions from the disease, there is an urgent need to conduct further research that could provide a better understanding of the disease in relation to the psychological effects (Greener, 2015).

The research is necessitated by the limitation in current knowledge regarding the psychological effects that result from suffering from diabetes. It is critical for researchers in the medical field to create viable models that could aid diabetes patients with the management of the condition for long-term success in the maintenance of the psychological conditions (Greener, 2015). It could even be better if the models addressed various methods through which individuals could learn in the management of the psychological condition before and after being diagnosed with diabetes. The management of the condition is key for the effective reduction of the psychological effects, which means that is essential to further research on the existing interventions to make them more efficient. This would aid in the identification of which interventions are appropriate for different groups of individuals that suffer from diabetes. Furthermore, the research would aid in the identification of the most effective interventions for different patients, in consideration of their preexisting conditions. It is also in order to include clinical psychologists in various studies conducted for the management of psychological conditions for patients with diabetes. This would aid in the maximization of mental health outcomes for the patients, as the psychologists are responsible for the provision of mental care to such patients.

Conclusion

This paper has provided various psychological aspects related to diabetes being a chronic disease with a high prevalence level. It has discussed a few examples of psychological conditions that could result from diabetes. One of such examples is depression, which is associated with the lifestyle change that occurs for individuals that suffer from the disease. These individuals experience psychological conditions due to the lack of support and other aspects such as the fear of injection and dietary changes. In addition, diabetes patients are likely to suffer from anxiety disorders due to medication use and the monitoring of glucose levels. Furthermore, the disease could lead to severe mental illness such as schizophrenia that could be harmful to the patient’s mental health. These psychological conditions adversely affect the manner in which the patient’s manage diabetes. They reduce the patient’s ability to self-manage the condition such as the self-administration of insulin through injections. A critical analysis on these aspects require that more research is conducted on the current knowledge on diabetes for the proper management of the disease, in order to reduce the psychological effects. In addition, it is critical for the medical researchers to create models that reduce the prevalence of diabetes due to increased psychological conditions globally. This would lead to the reduction of diabetes cases that could subsequently reduce the psychological effects of the disease. The inclusion of health psychologists in various studies could be advantageous due to their knowledge and their contribution in the provision of mental care to diabetes patients.