Keeping a Positive Attitude During Treatment

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Keeping a Positive Attitude During
Treatment Support Advocacy for HCV, HBV and HIV
Education Session
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Topics

• What does it mean to have a positive attitude?
• Tools for maintaining a positive attitude
• Getting ready for the holidays
• When you cant seem to snap out of that dark mood
  
• QA

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What does it mean to have a positive attitude?

• We can choose to have a positive attitude.
• Positive attitude is not about how we feel it
  is also rational.
• Dont beat yourself over the head with the
  positive attitude hammer.

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Tools for maintaining a positive attitude

• Express your feelings all of them.
• Keeping negative feelings bottled up isnt the
  same as having a positive attitude. We are all
  human.
• Feelings are only feelings. They dont have
  power over us and having bad feelings doesnt
  make bad things happen.
• Find a safe place to express how you feel a
  family member, friend, professional.
• Sort out whats going on with you emotionally.
  Release the tension. Its like a breath of fresh
  air.

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Tools for maintaining a positive attitude

• Stay educated. Knowledge is power.
• Understand your condition, how its being
  treated, what you can expect.
• Understand your rights as a patient, as an
  employee, as a citizen.
• Be honest with your healthcare provider about how
  you are feeling dont hesitate to be high
  maintenance.
• Remember Harry Potter Face your fear. When we
  dont have information, it is human nature to
  fill in the gaps, and we dont always have all
  the facts straight.

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Tools for maintaining a positive attitude

• Watch your self-talk. And change it.
• Whats going on in your mind? How are you
  evaluating the world around you? Is the cup half
  full or half empty?
• Your feelings and actions will follow your
  beliefs.
• Stay focused on your abilities, not your
  limitations. Whats working, not on whats not
  working. Whats possible, not on whats
  impossible.
• Create your own toolbox of positive antidotes to
  counteract negative thoughts, avoid awfulizing.
  

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Tools for maintaining a positive attitude

• Know what it takes to stay centered.
• What are your triggers for getting a negative
  attitude?
• Understand your triggers and develop a strategy
  that is both prevention and recovery focused.
• Be ready to perform rescue and recovery on
  yourself (this can be especially important at
  work and in relationships).
• Before you leave in the morning, do a quick
  self-check. Adjust your attitude as necessary.

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Tools for maintaining a positive attitude

• Maintain compassion, toward yourself and others.
• Everybody feels helpless. Everybody wants to fix
  things. And so we step on each others toes.
• Accept that you cant control everything. Remind
  yourself that you are doing your best.
• Assume the best motivations in others, not the
  worst.
• Dont be afraid to let others know how you are
  feeling, and encourage them to do the same.

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Getting ready for the holidays

• The holidays present a whole new level of
  challenges.
• It is a time of joy, but also a time of sometimes
  unreasonable obligations and expectations,
  resulting in over-scheduling, tense family
  relationships, strained finances.
• This is a time for managing your self-talk.
  Remind yourself that you cant do everything.
• Decide what your priorities are what you can
  do, cant do, and want to try to do. Maintaining
  your physical and emotional health is priority
  one.
• Communicate from the heart. Discuss your
  priorities with your loved ones, and be ready to
  be flexible.

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When you cant seem to snap out of that dark mood

• Watch out for symptoms of depression
• Symptoms of depression are numerous, but include
  changes in eating and sleeping patterns, sadness,
  withdrawing from others, feeling useless, losing
  interest in favorite activities, and feeling
  suicidal.
• If you find yourself in a funk that doesnt go
  away, reach out to a professional. Talk to your
  doctor about potential treatment side effects and
  talk to a mental health professional.

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Remember

• Remember that you are a multi-faceted human
  being. You are not a medical label.
• Treat yourself this way, and expect it of others
  (even if you have to give them some coaching).

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Q A

• Feel free to get in touch with me
• Gary McClain, PhD, LMHC
• www.JustGotDiagnosed.com
• 212 227 0515