A child with a chronic illness focuses primarily on positive feelings in order to make his or her life tolerable, whereas a healthy child has more room to be angry or sad in addition to having positive feelings. Although during childhood this would seem to be a good strategy for living a life that is as normal as possible, it takes a great deal of energy for children with chronic diseases to keep negative feelings at bay. Preliminary research results from a study conducted by Coralie Fuchs and Stefan van Geelen show that the ability to also experience negative feelings appears to prepare young people with chronic illnesses better for the future.
Fuchs and Van Geelen will present the preliminary results and examples from case studies on Friday March 14 during a symposium on children’s experience of chronic disease. The symposium is being organized by Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, part of University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht.
Their study, “Chronic disease from the perspective of the adolescent patient” (in Dutch: Chronische ziekte vanuit het perspectief van de adolescente patiënt) focused on the emotional life behind what young people with chronic illnesses reveal about themselves. Many of these young people seem to allow less room for negative feelings than healthy adolescents, preferring to focus on positive feelings. They would rather show their strong side in front of family, friends, and at school, even though a chronic disease like juvenile arthritis has a great impact on their daily life because of pain, inflammation, and fatigue.
Still, focusing attention on negative feelings has been shown to help many young people find a way to live with their disease. Using the self-confrontation method – a method developed by personality psychologist Hubert Hermans – insight can be gained into the perceptions of this group.
More than one hundred adolescents took part in this study.
The researchers Coralie Fuchs (special education professional) and Stefan van Geelen (philosopher) are both on staff at Wilhelmina Children's Hospital at University Medical Center Utrecht.