The focus here is on a practical and spiritual mindset change from looking for a cure after being diagnosed with a serious illness to starting to cope with it–more toward an acceptance of the illness rather than fighting it all the time. The authors’ goal in writing the book is to help break down barriers between us, ourselves, and others that have been built by the initial shock, the pain, the hassles and the weariness of a serious disease.

The “7 principles to freedom and inner peace” cover such topics as denial (a valid and natural response, but it keeps us down), which leads to isolation and cynicism, and anger (acknowledging it leads to freedom from it). If we can work through these, we will be able to see other options in our lives and the possibility that our perceptions of the world and ourselves can be changed. Each piece of the process is accompanied by “Life Skills,” a To Do list for the reader and/or the patient/client. Throughout the book, adages are on nearly every page that might help one see oneself in a different way.

The ultimate goal for one following their program is to find out how to love yourself, spiritually (in a broad sense), physically and mentally, thereby freeing you to share love with others. The authors prefer to characterize their perspective as “positively focused” as opposed to what they consider to be unrealistic optimism.

I am generally pessimistic about “love and healing” as being simplistic “cures” to very serious circumstances, especially mental illness where one cannot always trust or control ones’ thoughts and perceptions. However, in general, I found this book to be helpful to me as one who experiences both “medical” and “psychological” (as if these were two totally unconnected conditions) chronic illnesses. One of the tenets in the book is that one must believe in some kind of Higher Power to work through this; I don’t agree. I found so many quotes to be disruptive to the reading; one or two per chapter would be enough and the others could be listed in the back. There are a few differences that would not apply to mental illness or would have to be re-designed. I found the Life Skills activities to be realistic and, if done conscientiously, real work that requires a considerable amount of time.

You Are Not Your Illness can be a valuable resource to one experiencing the considerable difficulty of a serious diagnosis and can be a guideline for professional counselors as well since it presents a program of working through various points that occur in the process of dealing with long-term disability. The author speaks from the perspective of having a medical diagnosis and the “blues” because of it; she does not pretend to speak for any psychiatric illnesses. However, many of the experiences that are discussed are applicable, in large part, to mental illness as well.

Deborah A. Hill is a former university teacher in Philadelphia, but now lives in Florida on disability due to long-term medical and psychiatric disabilities. Her interest then and now is in the various ways one copes with chronic illness, but especially through religion.

Categories: ClientReviews, SelfHelp, General

Keywords: chronic diseases, multiple sclerosis, medicine