Coping With Parkinson's Disease

If you have Parkinson's disease you have to learn to cope with its symptoms and all of the other challenges it throws at you on a daily basis. Unfortunately there are no manuals or classes that can teach you the coping strategies that will work for you and your situation. You have to work them out for yourself but there is help. Many hospitals and community PD groups have classes on coping strategies that have proven to be generally effective for people who face a variety of stresses and certainly this sort of general information about effective coping strategies is helpful. For example, a problem-solving approach to stresses is generally more effective than denial or social withdrawal. But it is important to realize that there may be good reasons to go through a period of denial or withdrawal when faced with difficult situations. So be compassionate with yourself and when you find yourself using these ‘negative’ strategies. They can’t last forever though. Eventually they become count-productive and you will need to learn other more effective coping strategies like seeking social and emotional support from others, gathering information about signs and symptoms, ‘cognitive restructuring’ or refraining your limitations to identify both strengths and weaknesses and so forth. Sometimes you can learn these coping strategies in psychotherapy and counseling sessions so talk with your doctor to see if that might be an option for you. Consciously trying to acquire good or effective coping strategies is a worthwhile endeavor-don’t put it off. Act now.