The greatest faux pas in the treatment of illness, or disease, is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul — although the two cannot be separated. This remarkable fact, or sublime reference, accredited to Plato, is more than 2,500 years old. Yet, it is as applicable today as it was ages ago. It also bids fair to the idea that medicine is slowly changing, because the whole axiom confers and, in turn, validates no less that physical, emotional, or mental health disorders go hand-in-hand.
Research evidences that individuals with severe or chronic physical illnesses may often have a related, or parallel, emotional or mental health ‘catch-22.’ Or, what may remain overlooked, ignored, and inappropriately treated. This exemplifies the stigma associated with most emotional or mental illnesses. This is also the principal reason why a majority of individuals first seek ‘counsel’ through their general practitioner (GP), or the nearest healthcare centre — without letting down their ‘guard.’ This has providentially, or fortuitously, led to better amalgamation between mental health and physical care, including substance abuse, its ‘vetting’ and treatment in the primary care setting.
Coping With Illness
Most chronic illnesses have a clear, strapping effect on the individual‘s emotional and mental status. In the same approximation, most undiagnosed mental disorders influence the individual’s ability to cope with the illness and/or involve oneself in the treatment and recuperation process. This is primarily because learning to cope and live, if not accept, any long-term emotional or mental issue is nerve-racking for most people — more so, in the wake of unremitting anxiety. It is, therefore, not uncommon for patients and their families to have continuing periods of anxiety about the effect of the illness on their lives.
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