The real reason, that I couldn’t verbalize at the time, was that somewhere inside me taking medicine was somehow admitting that there was something “wrong” with me. It was like admitting that I was a faulty human specimen. At that tender age, I simply wasn’t able to separate me, the person, from me, the disease.

I think most people, young and old, have difficulty not letting disease define them as a person. Disease is so up-close and personal that it takes effort, intention and some advanced thinking to look at it as just a crappy thing that has happened rather than be the central tenet of your existence. Children and adolescents often live in the moment and simply do not have the cognitive capacity to separate from the moment without help.

I would encourage all HC providers, parents and interested adults to help chronically ill children find tangible and concrete ways to discover their personhood is not solely defined by disease. This is difficult because we give our children a scant few societal roles to play (example: student, athlete, or sibling). Their job, from an adult perspective, is to play and learn about their world around them. Chronic disease in childhood dramatically disrupts these two areas of activity. As such we need to get creative and help our chronically ill children find other meaningful, interesting, and engaging roles with which to identify.

By helping them learn to change these automatic thoughts about their disease, we are giving our children a foundation for effectively navigating future obstacles on the road of chronic disease.

Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this conversation.

Got Meds: Drug Adherence for Young People with #Chronic Medical Conditions [link to post] #mHealth #pcmh

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RT @lizasisler: Got Meds: Drug Adherence for Young People with #Chronic Medical Conditions [link to post] #mHealth #pcmh

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