Chronic Illness
Types
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Alzheimer’s disease
Cancer
Asthma
Arthritis
Diabetes
HIV - AIDS
Impact on the family
• Parents
– Shock, grief, anger
– All emotional energy goes to the sick person
– Little energy left for husband and rest of family
• Siblings
– Sympathy and resentment
• Relationships change
• Identity as a family changes
Support groups
• Provide help for families
Alzheimer’s disease
• Increasing age = leading risk factor
• Symptoms
– Memory loss
– Paranoia
– Sleep disturbances
– Anger
– Wandering off
Diabetes
• Lack of insulin to control blood sugar
levels
• Type 1 = Insulin-dependent diabetes
• Type 2 = Non-insulin-dependent
diabetes
• Gestational diabetes
• Can complicate pregnancy
– Ends with childbirth
Diabetes
• Health psychology’s role can include:
– Helping diabetics understand their illness
– Understand the effects of stress on blood
glucose metabolism
– Understand how to manage diabetes
– Researching and treating diabetes
Diabetes
• Health psychologists are most likely to
help patients by
– Improving their adherence to treatment
regimen
• Checking blood sugar levels
• Insulin injections
HIV - Human
Immunodeficiency virus
• Main risk groups in theU.S.
– Gay men
– Injection drug users
HIV - Risk factors
• Anal sex = highest risk factor
– Homosexual & heterosexual sex
• Heterosexual sex
– Women more at risk than men
HIV - Human
Immunodeficiency virus
• Male-male sexual contact =
– leading source of infection in U.S.
• Male-female sexual contact =
– leading source worldwide
– 1995 - 2005 = fastest growth in U.S.
Symptoms of HIV / AIDS
• First weeks
– Possibly no symptoms
– Flu like symptoms
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Fever
Sore throat
Skin rash
Headache
• Latency (asymptomatic) period
– Longest period
• As long as 10 years or more
Psychologists’ role in the AIDS
epidemic
• Helping to change behaviors
– The major causes of infection are behavior
related
Protecting yourself from AIDS
• Use condoms
• No anal sex
• Do not share needles