Abstract
This chapter describes the realities of the medical and emotional care of children who require longstanding pediatric care. We focus on the lived experience of the child who struggles with a chronic and severe medical condition. The child often fears isolation and a relapse or another hospitalization or procedure. Often the child has already gone through multiple procedures, hospitalizations or surgeries and may feel traumatized by them. There is a lack of control over one’s outcome. The child may experience feelings of depression and “being different” or unlike other children of his or her age. Also, there may be a fear of becoming sick, doing something wrong and often feelings of guilt of altering the life of the parents and siblings with the needs of care. We explore the children’s own theories about their medical condition. At times, disruptive behavior is an expression of lack of control and resentment at all the events that have occurred before. Also, some older children want to “ignore” their condition and refuse to participate in treatment. We describe intervention strategies aimed at improving resilience, mood, diminishing anxiety, and coping as well as possible with the challenges of living with a severe chronic health condition.
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Benjamin, J., Moore, H., Khatua, S. (2023). Mind–Body Issues in Children with Complex Medical Conditions and Complex Care Needs: Effects and Manifestations in the Child. In: Maldonado-Duran, J.M., Jimenez-Gomez, A., Saxena, K. (eds) Handbook of Mind/Body Integration in Child and Adolescent Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18377-5_26
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