Chronic Health

About this topic

A chronic illness arrives in the body, but it does not stay there. It reaches into work, relationships, identity, and the picture you had of your own future. There can be grief for the person you were before, a fatigue that sleep does not fix, and the particular tiredness of explaining yourself to people who cannot see what you carry.

The pages below are written for people living with a long-term condition, and trying to make sense of what it is asking of them. They are general information, not a clinical assessment. If you would like to talk to one of us, you can start with a Meet and Greet.

Therapy for chronic health →

Answers

1. "Is it normal to feel depressed after a chronic illness diagnosis?"
2. "What is medical gaslighting, and what does it do to mental health?"
3. "How does endometriosis affect mental health?"
4. "How does PCOS affect mental health, and what is the ADHD link?"
5. "Why am I so exhausted? Is this fatigue, depression, or both?"
6. "How do you grieve for a healthier version of yourself?"
7. "How do I tell my partner my illness is changing our relationship?"
8. "How do I tell work about my chronic illness?"
9. "How do I cope with the anxiety of a cancer diagnosis?"
10. "When chronic illness and ADHD or autism overlap, what changes?"

Guides

• Diagnostic trauma: what it is, and why it sits separately from the illness
• Energy envelopes and the developmental skill of pacing
• Grieving the pre-illness self: a developmental task, not a phase
• The relational map: partner, family, work, friends
• Invisible illness, body, and identity: when no one can see what is happening
• The illness-anxiety loop: how physical symptoms and worry feed each other

Worksheets

• Energy Envelope
• Disclosure Planner
• Loss Inventory
• Symptom Mood Diary

More reading on related topics

• Healthcare navigation
• Body-based approaches
• Nervous system
• Identity
• Evidence-based