The Holiday Torture is Over!!! Or Is It?

By Eliot LeBow LCSW, CDCES

 

The holiday season means different things to different people. For some, it means getting together with family and friends, making lots of plans, having lots of fun, and experiencing lots of stress. For others, it might mean loneliness, sadness, the loss of loved ones, or the loss of what was. What were the holidays like before? For many people, it implies family infighting and bickering.

 

Now, add diabetes to the mix, and all those anxieties and negative feelings skyrocket—different foods and activities you're not used to can cause blood sugars to careen out of control. Or perhaps it's your anxiety that careens out of control as you try to keep your blood sugar managed, causing your frustration levels to go through the roof. Those feelings may have been tolerable before, but now your mild level of diabetes distress has turned into major depressive episodes. Your frustration and anxiety are through the roof, and you feel like you want to jump out of your skin.

 

Thank God the holidays are over. But what if this is a sign of a persistent, although manageable, state of anxiety or depression that you've just become used to but would be much happier without?

 

Maybe the holiday issues with your family are issues you have with your family relationships all year round. What then?

 

Do you keep making excuses to defend your family, friends, significant others, or yourself? Maybe you think this is just how life is and can't get any better. The diabetes is just too hard to manage.

 

Negative thoughts have a way of lying to us. Unfortunately, it's the way we're built—all humans. However, a lot of that is learned behavior from our family while growing up. What did our parents learn from their families? Once we've grown up and moved out of the house, we take all the misinformation we learned from our families and repeat the pattern of negative feelings and behaviors into our adult lives unless we break the chains that bind us.

 

Now, how do we do that? Some people turn to self-help books, which can be impersonal and not tailored to an individual's needs. Others turn to healthy and unhealthy distractions like hobbies, exercise, or any number of addictions. Unfortunately, we can only distract ourselves for so long. Eventually, we have to deal with our issues head-on, or they will catch up to us when we least expect it, at the most inappropriate time, destroying relationships and, inevitably, yourself and everything you worked so hard for.

 

This is where psychotherapy becomes necessary at whatever stage of life you're in. Therapy can help you with support, healthy coping strategies, and various types of education not typically learned during most people's childhood but that is needed to live a happy life filled with success and self-love.

 

Now, understanding the impact of diabetes and how to navigate it on an emotional and physical level is critical to retaining and maintaining what you learn in psychotherapy. This is for various reasons: cognitive shifts due to blood sugar levels, comorbid mental health issues like attention deficit disorder, the impact of blood sugar levels during therapy sessions, and much more.

 

This is where my unique set of skills is most helpful to my clients. Having navigated living with Type 1 diabetes since 1977, diagnosed at age six, I have an exceptional understanding of some of what you're going through. My knowledge of living with diabetes helped me develop Diabetes-Focused Psychotherapy to meet the unique needs of someone living with diabetes. We will tailor therapy to meet your unique concerns and issues.

 

Feeling Overwhelmed by Diabetes? You're Not Alone. Diabetes-Focused Psychotherapy offers compassionate support and practical tools to help you navigate the emotional and physical challenges of living with diabetes. Get the help you deserve. Book a FREE consultation here or visit www.diabetictalks.com to discover how therapy can make a difference.

 

Medical Disclaimer:

All the advice included in this blog is therapeutic in nature and should not be considered medical advice. Before making any changes to your diabetes maintenance program, please consult with your primary physician or endocrinologist.

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DiabeticMinds® addresses both the physical and emotional aspects of living life with diabetes while still addressing other non-diabetes related life problems to create a unique holistic approach to help people with diabetes thrive.   My Private Practice helps people of all ages and their families manage life with diabetes.