[The influence of psychological factors on the patient's management of diabetes. Critical survey of psychodynamic models on personal management of diabetes].

Abstract

The authors have examined the currently accepted methods to face a chronic disease like diabetes. The person affected by this illness should learn to accept his/her limits and find a new identity. The aim of technical and scientific medicine is to teach the patient how to cope with the disease. However, in spite of the progress of the scientific research in this field, diabetes remains a poorly treated disease. A review of the literature shows that there is a deep interaction between diabetes and psychological states. Psychological disorders like depression and anxiety might be associated with the origin of diabetes and can affect its course. It seems that emotional factors have a more important role than education in diabetes care. The psychological aspect becomes even more important during adolescence, as the chronic illness can affect the normal development of the teen-ager who will deny it to protect himself. If the patient does not collaborate, his behaviour may be unconsciously aggressive and destructive. Some patients can use diabetes as a tool to act out aggressive feelings against themselves or the environment. Diabetes bad management becomes then the expression of their destructive narcissism which prevents them from finding a new identity. The collaboration of medical and psychological operators should help these patients to find a new identity which includes diabetes as an integrating part of their personality and enables them to cope with it under the guidance of the diabetes team.