Therapy for Chronic Illness

Has Life With A Chronic Illness Become Too Exhausting To Manage On Your Own?

A chronic condition can significantly affect your career, relationships, and quality of life.
If you have one, chances are you’re used to:

•  Being gaslit, dismissed, or not believed by medical professionals

•  Having to explain your condition over and over in social situations

•  Feeling like a burden to friends and family because of your limitations

Maybe you were very active, independent, and high achieving before your chronic illness came along. Now, it’s a colossal struggle just to get out of bed, function at school or work, and hold down a steady job. You find yourself continually cancelling plans with friends because of flareups, which causes you to feel isolated and disconnected.

Deep down, you probably wish there was someone in your life who not only knew what it was like to live with a chronic illness, but could also help you find meaning and connection in the midst of your pain.

When You Have A Chronic Illness, Everyday Life Can Feel Unpredictable

You might wake up every morning asking yourself: How bad will I feel today? Will I have another flareup? What if I have to miss work or cancel plans again? Will other people understand, or will they think I’m just being lazy or careless?

In this way, your mind is always one step ahead of you—worrying about what foods, activities, and daily stressors will affect your symptoms. On top of that, there’s medical testing and doctor’s appointments to think about, all of which can add to your exhaustion and overwhelm.

Life with a chronic illness can be incredibly isolating. No one should have to go it alone.

As a therapist who has lived with a chronic illness myself, I am confident that I can help you manage your pain and distress more effectively, increase your self-advocacy skills, and reduce the fear and uncertainty around your condition. You may not be able to eliminate your illness, but I believe that it’s possible to still live a full, balanced life.

Let’s Face It:
Most People Don’t Know What Chronic Illness Feels Like

If you’ve dealt with a chronic condition for a long time, chances are you’re used to being misunderstood. Other people might act like it’s all in your head and tell you that you’re “healthy” and your symptoms are “probably just anxiety.”

The truth is that if people can’t see your illness or make sense of it, their first resort is often to question or minimize it. Even if they don’t understand, they often feel the need to offer an opinion or a fix. This can lead to intense self-doubt—when other people continually doubt you, it’s easy to doubt yourself. You might internalize the invalidating comments you hear and come to believe that your pain and suffering are just a result of anxiety or depression.

While it’s true that mental health can have a profound impact on your physical health, chronic illness is so much more than an emotional issue. It’s not always something that you can control, and that’s why seeing a therapist who understands the nature of chronic illness is so vital.

Sadly, The Healthcare System Often Isolates People With Chronic Illnesses

Many chronic illnesses are difficult to diagnose. On top of that, it’s hard to find providers who are trained to work with chronic conditions. As a result, most patients spend years and years searching for answers, only to be told their tests are normal and their symptoms are all in their head. They empty their wallets chasing a cure, only for no cure to be found.

As a survivor of chronic illness myself, I know how frustrating and flat out exhausting this cycle can be. I don’t propose to have all the answers or know the perfect cure, but what I can promise is this: I will believe you and I will help you explore options for making your chronic illness more manageable.

Whether you’re simply looking for a sounding board for your struggles or you want practical help navigating appointments, I’m here for you.

Therapy Can Help You Thrive Even With A Chronic Illness

One of the first things I often tell my clients is: “Don’t let perfection get in the way of progress.” I know how overwhelming it is when everyone around you seems to have an opinion or a fix and you don’t know where to turn. My goal is to help you slow things down, look at the big picture, and focus on the little things you can do to make your life easier. Oftentimes, that means looking at what needs attention first and identifying what feels most manageable.

As therapy evolves, we can expand the scope of sessions and focus on grief, acceptance, stress management, and finding new methods for coping with the changing reality of chronic illness. Together, we can explore:

• Strategies for working with brain fog and limited energy

•  Mobility aids, adaptive tools, and other environmental modifications

•  Ways to reduce fear and uncertainty around your condition

•  Skills for increasing communication and self-advocacy

•  Tools for managing appointments, medications, and healthcare issues

Along the way, I will be there to provide education, validation, and empowerment, ensuring that you have a place to safely let it all out without fear of being judged or disbelieved.

Tailoring My Approach To Chronic Illness Counseling

The goals for therapy ultimately depend on a variety of factors, including illness, prognosis, and current limitations. My approach to the healing process is person- centered, trauma-informed, and rooted in the idea that treating chronic illness means working closely with the body. After all, chronic illness is a body-based issue—that’s why I like to practice a variety of somatic activities with my clients, such as deep breathing, yoga nidra, and guided visualization. Some of the other approaches I use include:

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which is all about accepting the reality of your illness while still working toward a better life, using acceptance as a means of motivation rather than surrender

• EMDR and Brainspotting, both of which are trauma-based approaches that can help you restructure negative beliefs like “This is my lot in life” and “Nothing will ever change” so that you’re not locked into them for life

• Internal Family Systems (IFS), an approach to therapy that can help you heal the parts of you that have been wounded by medical trauma and other difficult experiences
  

Ultimately, it may not be possible to cure your chronic illness, but therapy can help you have a different relationship with your condition. I’ll help you learn to manage your stress better, handle doctors’ appointments and difficult conversations more effectively, and find ways to enjoy life, even when things are hard.

You May Have Some Questions About Chronic Illness Therapy...

Your Chronic Illness Does Not Define You

It doesn’t have to hold you back from achieving your hopes and dreams and finding pockets of joy in the midst of pain and uncertainty. Together, we’ll explore how to work with what is while still identifying new possibilities for what can be. To learn more about how I support people suffering from invisible illnesses, I encourage you to fill out the contact form.

Providing both in-person and online services for clients in Denver, Colorado.