Coping with the Psychological Effects of Illness: Strategies to manage anxiety and depression

Fran Smith – counselling psychologist specialised in helping people adjust to living with health problems. London

Carina Eriksen – counselling psychologist worked at Institute of psychiatry, London

Prof Robert Bor – lead clinical psychologist in medical specialties at the Royal Free Hospital London

About the book

• Published 2015
• 122 pages
• Kindle edition costs US$ 9.80

Authors

I like to start by looking at authors’ credentials. Well, these are blow-me-away good! Top psychologists, with a sound, knowledgeable background of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, CBT, and mindfulness therapies (amongst others) who certainly know what they’re talking about and whose advice can be trusted.

Book’s sections 

• illness and its impact
• managing depression
• managing anxiety
• managing self-esteem
• support from and relationships with friends, family and health professionals
• if you need more help

What I liked

• It’s a fairly short, down-to-earth and easy read. It contains lots of clear self-help strategies rather than just being full of psychological theories.
• It’s a book you can dip into rather than needing to read the whole way through.

What I disliked

• It contains mostly full-pages of text, unrelieved by pictures, although with occasional bullet points and relevant real-life stories.
• This may not be ideal for its planned audience of people including those who are feeling depressed or anxious and may find it hard to concentrate for long.

Sample advice

addressing unhelpful beliefs eg. Illness is a sign of weakness

• identify your belief – helpful questions to ask yourself
• notice when it comes to mind
• question the helpfulness of this belief
• challenge the belief

Core messages

• You can work on your psychological well-being more easily than your physical illness (which may seem out of your control, needing input from multiple health professionals).
• You need to work on ‘understanding yourself’ so you can ’get on top’ of things.

Bottom Line

This is the kind of book that suits someone like me, who enjoys reading and has an interest in mental health issues. I am buying a copy as I think the information in it will be useful for Coagulation Conversation, where we can provide it in ‘bite-sized’ pieces while referencing the book.

Has the illness you experienced or are still experiencing come with many psychological effects?