Young children with diabetes mellitus perceive their illness from the psychological and cognitive positions inherent in this age. The need to follow a diet, insulin injections, self-monitoring tests, of course, complicate their daily life, but children do not feel the disease as a tragedy that breaks their future and prevents them from enjoying positive events.
At a young age, such concomitant manifestations of the painful process as moodiness, poor sleep, deterioration in general well-being, and fear of injections prevail. But all these manifestations are usually not perceived by the child consciously — as associated with diabetes. The psychological reaction of a child with diabetes largely depends not only on his age, intellectual development, characterological characteristics. A significant influence on such a reaction belongs to the behavior of parents and other family members.
The psychological reaction of a child with diabetes largely depends of the behavior of parents and other family members.
Parents and close relatives (grandmothers, grandfathers), who are already wise from everyday experience and have at least initial awareness of diabetes mellitus, perceive what happened much more difficult. In contrast to the child, they realize that we are talking about a serious life-long illness, which, to a greater or lesser extent, can negatively affect their studies, career choice, subsequent work and personal life.
As the child grows up, a conscious perception and understanding of his disease, its lifelong nature, gradually occurs. Due to this, already in primary school age, serious psychological and behavioral problems arise, associated with the not unfounded sense of their difference from other children, the need to comply with the requirements due to the nature of the disease.
Sometimes, guided by the desire to protect the child from neglect and ridicule by peers, parents hide from others that he or she has diabetes. This is not only unacceptable, but also dangerous. Yes, and it is impossible in a school setting when it comes to timely food intake, the need for adequate help in cases of hypoglycemic conditions, reasonable refusal from certain exercise, etc.
Sometimes parents hide from others that children has diabetes. This is unacceptable and dangerous.
Perhaps the most critical age, most vulnerable to early depressive pathology in diabetes mellitus, is adolescents and young people. It is at this age, which coincides with puberty, that a complex “personal inferiority complex” arises due to diabetes problems. These are painful thoughts and fears associated with the possibility of a normal family life, problems of career guidance and acquisition of a desired specialty, future employment, and the start of professional activity, and finally, relationships with peers.
Young men and women are drawn into a streak of experiences and, often, disappointments about their current and future problems, their linkage with diabetes. As a rule, such an emotional and psychological reaction is especially difficult in the first months of the disease. As it adapts to the changed lifestyle and everyday concerns, it weakens somewhat, only in rare cases leading to the development of persistent clinical depression.