We may all have been exposed to the concept of therapy through mediums such as movies, books, etc.
However the picture painted through these mediums may not always be accurate. Therapy or counselling
is not only effective but also an essential part of holistic healing of the mind while medication focuses on
physical aspects of healing the body when diagnosed with any disease.
Therapy can play a crucial role in healing a life-threatening disease. To deal with the fear and anxiety of
death can be extremely overwhelming and weigh the individual down with overbearing thoughts making it
even more challenging to focus on healing and recovery. Therapy may certainly help in this space and
state of the mind and allow the patient to identify and practice specific methods to alleviate the fear and
anxiety associated with the diagnosis.
Based on my lived experience, I’m sharing 3 reasons where therapy can be highly beneficial if an
individual is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.
- To find a purpose to live – I had a continuous streak of thoughts about being dead, how will I breathe my last breath, how will my loved ones respond and many such thoughts that encompassed a massive fear of the unknown. It was extremely challenging to break that spiral of thoughts which further disrupted my mind in functioning normally thereby making day-to-day activities challenging to accomplish. When I took to therapy, it allowed me to break the spiral and continue to function on a daily basis. I was able to unravel associated fears related to my current state of mind and focus on managing them. Therapy helped me find a reason to live rather than a reason to die. I was able to shift my focus to what I wanted to do after emerging victorious and become hopeful rather than being fearful. Therapy gave me a chance to live and not wait till I die
- To identify the power of self-validation – The existence and importance of self may be highly emphasised when struck with a life-threatening disease. I constantly saw myself in a position of seeking external validation for convincing myself that everything was going to be okay. Somehow very oddly, I was not able to assure myself that I was going to make it through this crisis and kept looking out for reassurance through conversation with others. Therapy helped me talk to myself and seek self-validation and self-assurance which was of very high value to me during the later stages of my treatment and recovery. The only expectation I had was from myself through the healing process and I realised that the power of internal validation is the highest when I’m dealing with assurance and expectation.
- To push oneself when the going gets tough – It was very disappointing and disheartening when during a certain phase most of my efforts to recover were futile. It was a tipping point for me where I was about to break and convince myself that nothing could be done. Therapy helped me identify my strengths and helped me utilize them at the right moments during break-downs. I realized that all I needed was to be reminded of my strength and power to break-through from the crisis. It is natural to feel lost and frustrated when things don’t go the expected way. However, getting a push at the right time allowed me to pick myself up and get going again.
Therapy may be beneficial for many more reasons during a life-threatening disease. However, these 3 have been the most crucial ones for me and I strongly believe that therapy is a powerful aspect in healing from trauma that is associated with a life-threatening disease.