The Psychology of Crohn's Disease on WEGOHealth.tv

The Psychology of Crohn's Disease

Everyone knows that Crohn's affects the intestines but most patients also have to deal with psychological and emotional stress that goes along with the condition. View Transcript

Transcript

The Psychology Behind Crohn's

Tim Albert
Most people know about the physical effects that Crohn's disease can have on a patient's stomach, but a lot of people don't know that Crohn's Disease can affect a lot of other things. For example, it can affect a patient psychologically. You're not going to want to go out, you're not going to want to see the sun, you're not going to want to socialize with people, and it really starts to affect how you look at the world and how you see things.

Karen Langston
I was hot-headed and angry and not interested in taming my disease and was definitely in denial about even having a disease.

Michael A. Weiss
Before you can deal with the social aspects of your illness you need to understand your illness. How severe is your illness? Because that is going to dictate your decision making in terms of whether you go away to school, how far away to school you go, what occupation you pick, it's going to alter your dreams.

Tim Albert
A lot of people give up on their hopes and dreams. They think their not going to be able to have the jobs they want to have of the extravagant lives that they had planned for themselves. People with Crohn's Disease can also start to become embarrassed of themselves, that can also lead to depression.

Michael A. Weiss
It's okay to feel down sometimes, that's normal. It's okay to feel depressed, the medication can get you depressed sometimes. Maybe see a psychologist or psychiatrist, do whatever you have to do. But do not feel sorry for yourself and do not give off that vibe to other people because then you're going to let the illness take over more of your body. It may get your intestines, it may keep you in the hospital but it shouldn't affect your mind. It shouldn't affect your spirit. It shouldn't affect your intelligence, and you can't forget that.

Tim Albert
Over time people have to learn to just accept that they have Crohn's disease and to instead of think that it's controlling them and taking over everything they need to learn how to live with it or make it work for them.