Yesterday's post discusses a study in which patients who are told their colostomy is temporary are less happy than those who believe it is permanent. I'd like to suggest an alternative explanation to "holding on to hope" as the explanation for the unhappiness.
Let's suppose that the patients who are told their colostomies are irreversible believe the news without any doubts. Surely these patients experience grief. We can assume they receive support, too, since their loss is obvious and their grief seems justified. Through their grief work, they free their attention and energy to focus on accepting and adjusting to their changed life. Thus they move as quickly as possible to a sense of renewed wholeness, including an ability to feel joy.
The patients who believe their loss is temporary surely experience some grief, too. But in contrast to the patients who believe their loss is permanent, these patients may try to deny or hide their grief, since they know they are the fortunate ones whose loss is temporary. Can't you picture people saying to these patients, "Don't cry! It'll be fixed in a few months!"
When losses are temporary, grief can become complicated. Maybe in the study it is bottled up sadness and grief -- more than holding on to hope -- that is the primary obstacle to experiencing joy.
In my next post I'll explore this further.
This is such a fascinating topic. I would really love to read the actual study conducted with colostomy patients that was reported on in Science Daily, but I cannot find it anywhere. Not in pubmed or in other searches. I assume you've read the study. Do you know where I could find it?
Your angle on grief is interesting. I think there are a lot of assumptions that go into the idea that patients who survive permanent loss have a supported or complete grieving processes. Some people never grieve loss. Maybe they think everything happens for a reason and there is no loss to grieve. Maybe they spend the rest of their lives getting drunk and watching internet porn instead of dealing with their feelings. Maybe they live in a community where getting a colostomy is considered a cakewalk compared to other hardships in life and few people recognize or support this as a loss. On the other hand, when I lived in San Francisco and ran amongst a great crowd of people who were highly in touch with their feelings, even a temporary loss would have been accompanied by a healing circle or ritual.
I am really curious to better understand how the authors of this study came to their conclusions, what model of questioning was used that lead them to their conclusions.
Have a great weekend.
Kairol
blog: http://everythingchangesbook.com/
Dear Kairol,
Article is in current issue of Health Psychology. Your local medical library should be able to access it for you. I'm awaiting a copy.
With hope, Wendy
Posted by: Kairol Rosenthal | November 07, 2009 at 08:22 AM