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Fibromyalgia is undoubtedly one of the most stressful things that anyone can be forced to cope with. And having to deal with the constant pain and fatigue can severely impact your quality of life. It keeps you from doing the things you love and puts a strain on your relationships with friends and family. So, it’s not hard to understand why fibromyalgia tends to lead to chronic stress and depression.
But, while everyone struggles with fibromyalgia, some people have a harder time of coping than others. That’s because these people might actually be suffering from a psychological condition called adjustment disorder. So what is adjustment disorder? And what can you do to treat it?
What Is Adjustment Disorder?
Adjustment disorder is actually a set of different symptoms that make up a larger condition. Essentially, it’s a reaction to a stressful event in your life. The event can be a single thing like a divorce or death in the family. Or it can be a reaction to a continuous problem like struggling with fibromyalgia every day. People with the disorder have a reaction that goes beyond the normal reaction to this kind of stress.
As a result, people with the disorder struggle with persistent anxiety, depression, and even physical problems like irregular heart beats and weight gain. And they often spend long periods of time crying or being unable to get out of bed. But the condition also affects the way you behave. People with adjustment disorder often begin to lash out at people around them and exhibit compulsive or even dangerous behavior. And the issue can get severe enough that it drives people to make suicide attempts.
It’s hard to say why some people develop the disorder when other people don’t. But it probably is the result of a complex web of issues like social support networks, pre-existing mental health issues, and even genetics.
Doctors take all of these things into account when they perform a comprehensive mental health evaluation to diagnose the condition. The key diagnostic criteria are that the symptoms persist for more than a few months and go beyond the normal reactions that people have to stress.
How Can You Treat It?
The focus of treatment for this disorder is finding ways to help the patient learn to cope with their circumstances. Most patients end up doing something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT.
CBT is a form of talk therapy where a psychiatrist helps the patient learn to identify negative thoughts and emotions and find ways to deal with them. The process involves going over the things that are causing negative feelings and learning how to turn negative thoughts into positive actions that can benefit your situation.
In addition, other forms of therapy like meditation or relaxation exercises can help you learn how to cope with the anxiety that comes with the condition. And many doctors recommend group therapy where you join a support group of other people suffering from the condition and share effective coping strategies and simply have a place to vent their negative feelings.
And, family therapy can also be beneficial. In family therapy, you and your family go to a therapist where you discuss ways that your family can address any form of dysfunction and help you develop an effective support network at home.
There are some medications that doctors use to treat the condition. These medications include anti-depressants that can help boost the level of serotonin in the brain and help you break the cycle of negative thoughts and emotions. But because adjustment disorder is largely based on not having effective coping mechanisms rather than biological causes, most therapists feel that drugs are not the most effective way to treat the condition.
By developing effective coping strategies with a therapist, many people who suffer from the condition are able to eventually overcome it. The good news is that learning to deal with the stress of fibromyalgia can also leave you more equipped to deal with the stressful events that are a part of anyone’s life, especially when you have fibromyalgia.
And dealing with fibromyalgia does require these kinds of tools. The condition is currently incurable, which means that most people with fibromyalgia will struggle with the pain throughout their entire lives. And so developing effective mental tools for dealing with the stress is a key part of managing the condition.
So, do you suffer from adjustment disorder? What do you do to cope with it? Let us know in the comments.
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