​Discuss how the feelings of grief and loss apply to chronic illness. Are there any positive aspects to chronic illness?

A. Feelings of grief and loss often accompany a diagnosis of chronic illness.
1. People experience a transformation when they are diagnosed with a chronic illness, and grief for the loss of their former selves may be part of the changes they experience.
2. Partners of Alzheimer's patients may begin to grieve for the affected partner at the point of diagnosis.
3. Parents of children diagnosed with diabetes grieve for the loss of their healthy child.
B. People with chronic diseases experience reactions similar to those with terminal illness, and those reactions are warranted because chronic diseases are leading causes of death in industrialized countries.
C. After the death of a loved one, friends and family experience feelings of grief and loss.
D. Some people manage to find positive aspects in chronic illness.
1. Some people with chronic diseases experience positive personal growth as a result of the adaptations that they are prompted to make, finding meaning in the experience of illness.
2. Some caregivers also manage growth-producing experiences during their experience with chronic illness.