Chronic Illness, Procrastination Acceptance & Commitment Therapy

Chronic Illness, Procrastination

Chronic illness has the ability to affect you in more ways than just medically. In fact, it can impact you psychologically. The degree of impact is dependent on the person's personality and the circumstances before the diagnosis. Support structure plays an important role on a person's ability to cope, but oftentimes, a person has to go through various stages of dealing with the condition before they are able to adjust to the realities of the chronic illness.

When a person is diagnosed with a chronic illness, he or she will go through a number of stages similar to the stages of grief. Denial, disbelief and shock are just some of the emotions a person experiences when a diagnosis is made, and it's natural for them to resist major changes. Eventually, they will become exhausted, when all they really want to do is to recover. At that point, fear and anxiety will set in and worry in the face of uncertainty of the future.

Sadness, grief and depression are common emotions when they consider the possibility of lost goals, hopes and dreams. Losing independence is a real fear, which becomes inevitable if an illness progresses and that brings about the fear of being a burden to loved ones, which brings on more anger, resentment and even shame.

Counselling can help a person to deal with the emotions relating to chronic illness and to cope with the stress and anxieties of accepting and coping with life changes. It will help to regain personal control over life and yourself.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who works with in chronically ill individuals you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.

Procrastination is not the same as laziness, instead, it is a severe condition that millions of people experience on an ongoing basis.

Most procrastinators wish that they were more productive in order to achieve their goals and dreams. Unfortunately the force of procrastination destroys their ambitions and aspirations, and telling them to "get a grip" doesn't help at all. Procrastination is similar to obsessive compulsive disorder in that the person doesn't choose the behavior and can't change it by simply making the decision to be more productive.

A person with procrastination issues tends to disappoint other people by not meeting their deadlines or promises. They find it hard to start on new projects, or switching from one to the next. They chronically underestimate or overestimate the duration of tasks and struggle to get going. Even when they want to start on a task, they may have difficulty establishing a starting point. Disorganization and clutter fill their work spaces and homes. Procrastination is a passive resistance that expresses the resentment of the fact that procrastinators are often unable to say no. They will do anything, except what they should be doing and tend to focus on short term happiness over long term success.

Psychotherapy can help a person to overcome procrastination issues. A therapist will assess the causes of your procrastination and find ways to solve these issues. Sometimes, strategies for self-acceptance and increasing energy levels are all that's needed.

If you are looking for a counsellor or psychologist who offers counselling approaches to address your procrastination issues, you may want to search the directory to find a professional whose approach will suit you best.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy encompasses a range of six principles that aim to help clients develop greater psychological flexibility. The six principles include:

1. Cognitive defusion help to reduce tendencies to regard thoughts, memories and emotions as real and concrete events.

2. Acceptance is about allowing the thoughts to surface and pass without the need to allow them to interfere with daily life.

3.  Being present means being aware of current existence and being involved with the now.

4. Self observation helps the client to be aware of the self and the unchanging consciousness.

5. Exploring values to discover those that are most important to the person.

6. Committed action involves setting goals based on the explored values, and setting actions in place to reach those goals.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy is a form of cognitive behavioural therapy and is commonly used in therapy, and in it's sub-forms and helpful for a range of conditions, including OCD. If you require Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, have a look at the counsellors listed below.

Note: You may narrow your search by selecting more than one filter below.

Tara Azimi

M.A., RCC
    • Online booking
I am a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) and Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) with over 12 years of experience. I’m also completing a PhD where I collaborate on research projects on diabetes, domestic abuse... Read more

Sarah Mordell

Ph.D., R.Psych
    • Online booking
Curious about therapy but feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start? Let's walk through it together. Finding someone who seems like a good fit for you is an important start. But reflecting on what you'... Read more