BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Spirituality as a Means of Coping with Chronic Illness A few years back I was told by a couple people whom I assumed cared about me, that they thought I was useless or didn't want to deal with a sick person. I turned to the one entity who I knew would never abandon me. When you have a disability or chronic illness, many times there is nothing you can do about curing yourself - but there is plenty you can do about coping. M. Michelle Rowe Individuals with chronic illnesses often deal with intense physical and psychological stressors as a consequence of living with an illness. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between spirituality and coping ability. Participants with various chronic illnesses completed the Spiritual Involvement and Belief Scale (SIBS), the Coping Styles Scale, and a demographics questionnaire. A significant positive correlation was found between spirituality and the ability to cope. However, only one coping style, Intrusive Positive Tho...

The last few years have been hard for me and its been difficult to get back to my purposeful life - which I have devoted first: to being the mother my children need and deserve and second: to serve God by helping others. I know this is what my murdered therapist would have told me to do. It is what she encouraged me to do, among other things and was my silent cheerleader in everything I did do. Also, it is what she devoted her life to doing - helping others. For some time after her murder I "sat a personal shiva" for the relationship which is now gone, and which I and everyone who knew her, had ripped from them. I stayed and even revisit that grief on occassion. That's exactly what she would have told me to do - take as long as you need and don't let anyone tell you to just "get over it." And I am going on with life. As my beloved Nana (who lost her husband suddenly when she was 48, and her son just 4 years before her death) said - "Keep livin...

YOU'RE NOT USELESS I have to remind myself all the time that I have a purpose here in this world. Though sometimes it seems I am just a support system for my children, and that should be enough for me. In a way it is. Being a mother and having wonderful children who love me and trust me unconditionally has been a true miracle. I would be lying, though to say it has been easy. I often get very angry that my children will never know me before - before I became disabled. They will never know the 'powerhouse' that their mother used to be. When I was finally diagnosed after 5 months of being shuffled and tested by most every hospital in New York City - I had to tell my parents, of blessed memory. The first thing one of them said was "now you're useless!" She had a mental illness I realize, but hearing her tell my then-husband to leave me because I was "no longer useful to" him was hurtful. My career and my life changed almost overnight and the de...