Argumentative Essay

I wanted to choose a research topic that had to do with my life and personal experiences.  I have had Type 1 diabetes since I was five years old. My mother decided on that day that she wanted to treat me normally like my sisters. If they had dessert after dinner she would want to deprive me of that, I would just need to take insulin. She has always said, “Taking care of your diabetes is just like brushing your teeth. You have to do it every day in order to be healthy and take care of yourself.” She has always comforted me when I wondered “why me?” or felt different than everyone else. Most people do not understand what it is, and I feel it is best to be informed about what diabetics go through physically and emotionally. If the general public had a better understanding of what this disease is it might be possible that the people would have a lesser risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and would watch their eating habits and exercise often. The human body can be affected by diabetes psychologically, for example depression, and physically, the pancreas slows production of insulin or completely stops.

In the article, “Depression and Quality of Life in Patients with Diabetes “ the authors,  Miranda T Schram, Caroline A Baan, and François Pouwer, stated, “Diabetes patients are known to have a worse quality of life than individuals without diabetes. They also have an increased risk for depressive symptoms, which may have an additional negative effect on their quality of life.” (Schram, Baan, and Pouwer.) This article also stated, “Diabetes is a serious health problem in the Western world. According to the International Diabetes Federation, 189 million individuals have diabetes worldwide. The prevalence of diabetes in Western societies is rapidly rising; worldwide the number of individuals with diabetes is expected to have doubled in 2025. Diabetes is frequently accompanied by serious short term complications such as hypoglycemia, but also by disabling long term complications like cardiovascular disease, neuropathy, nephropathy and retinopathy. Less known is the increased risk for depression: individuals with diabetes have a two-fold increased risk for depression, affecting approximately 1 in every five diabetes patients. Depressive symptoms are particularly common among diabetes patients with co-morbid health problems, as compared to patients with diabetes alone.” (Schram, Baan, and Pouwer.) This proves that something needs to be done to stop this vastly increasing problem, such as spreading awareness of this topic.

Throughout my research I also came across an article, “Illness Representations and Coping as Predictors of Emotional Well-being in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes” it was based on a study that concluded, “Perceived impact was consistently associated with participants' indices of negative emotional well-being. Contrary to the hypothesized model, coping did not mediate the association between illness representations and emotional well-being in this sample.” (Edgar and Skinner.) This is proof that there are many cases of negative emotional well-being. This article also concluded, “Perceived impact, identity, and cognitive restructuring were significant independent predictors for depressive symptomatology. For anxiety, perceived impact and identity were significant predictors, and for positive emotional well-being, treatment effectiveness to control diabetes was the only significant predictor. Multiple regression analyses indicated that coping did not mediate the association between illness representations and positive emotional well-being.” (Edgar and Skinner.) As far as psychologically factors that are associated with diabetes, anxiety and depression play a major part. This is caused by diabetics that remember the time when they were not diabetic and how they compare themselves to that time. They no longer feel normal and feel they are not as healthy as they were in the past.

My research has proven that the link between diabetics and psychologically problems is a strong one. This can be solved by talking to other diabetics with the same problems. If they can relate to each other, their company can help discard their depression and/ or anxiety. The American Diabetes Association also sponsors a number of diabetes camps available for juvenile diabetics, where they can, “Listen and understand first-hand what it’s like to live with diabetes. They will be able to share their strategies for coping with diabetes management and learn about their day-to-day triumphs and challenges. Diabetics can inspire campers with their personal accomplishments at school, in sports and at work. They can help campers make new friends and develop their own lifelong support system.”