Coping with Chronic Illness

Silvia Bonino is Professor Emeritus of Developmental Psychology in the Department of Psychology of the University of Turin (Italy), where she founded the Laboratory of Developmental Psychology. She is the author of Nature and Culture in Intimate Partner Violence: Sex, Love and Equality, (Routledge, 2018).

• Table of contentsPreface for this editionWhy this bookPart I 1. Healthy and ill: equal and different 2. Beyond the myth of perfect health3. Protagonist of one’s own development 4. Protagonist of one’s own development in chronic disease Part II 5. Why me?6. Finding meaning 7. Reconstructing identity 8. Self-efficacy: the exercise of control 9. Stress10. Coping with stressPart III 11. It is all your fault12. Pain13. Fatigue14. Depression15. Mourning and loss16. Optimism and happiness 17. Logical thought magical thought18. Telling the story of one’s illness Part IV 19. The therapeutic relationship20. Trust21. Empathy22. The patient between statistical logic and clinical logic23. Alternative medicine24. ConfidentialityPart V 25. Us and the others26. Between visible and invisible27. Solitude28. Attachments29. Work30. Life and deathPart VI 31. Diagnosis: confronting the truth32. "I want to do it on my own"33. Being ill in the Internet age 34. And life goes on35. Parents and childrenBibliography

This book brings a new vision into the experience of living with chronic disease. Silvia Bonino had the courage and intelligence to put her knowledge as professor of developmental psychology in dialogue with her personal experience to produce a very fine and sensitive description of the processes, emotions, states of mind, strategies and mechanisms of defence of the chronic patient. It offers both a critical and constructive look at the intervention of different health personnel, highlighting the need for better communication between professionals and patients. An indispensable book for both caregivers and chronically ill!Michel Born, Professor, University of Liège, Belgium