Word Wednesday: Chronic

My daughter has a blog with Tip Tuesday.  Every week she writes a tip for Moms.  I decided to steal her idea and have Word Wednesday.  In her blog she has a character called "The Pragmatist".  My blog is different, because it offers nothing useful.  Here is her blog to read instead (or in addition), if you would like something more...pragmatic.  http://holdingthedistaff.blogspot.com/

So back to my blog.  I love to think about words: how we use them, what they mean, their power, their affect on people's emotions and reactions.  Words have the power to communicate or cause great barriers to understanding.  For myself, I make a lot of assumptions about when I use a certain word and what it means to the person I am talking with. I just assume they think it means what I do. However, defining every word we used and what it truly means, would be kind of crazy.

There are even books written about ONE word.  When psychologists do research, they have to define not the word itself, but the contruct of it.  For example, "motivation" has to be defined and measureable.  It really gets quite messy.  If you are interested in this, you would have to take a course on psychometrics.  Basically, it is taking our unclear emotional vocabulary and trying to put it in a measureable scientific box.  So think about that, next time you are reading the latest psychological data. 

Today's word is "chronic".  I really despise this word.  It is defined as long standing, or something that has gone on for a very long time.  In my profession, we use the word for chronic illness, chronic headache or back pain, chronic fatigue. Anyway, you get the picture.  I think that those of us in the medical field don't care for the diagnosis of "chronic" much because it might mean this:

We cannot do much to make any difference.  It fills us and our patients with a sense of defeat.  The only answer we can come up with is "learn to live with it".  I don't think anybody likes to say or hear these words.  So for me, "chronic" brings up feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.  Those are the two hallmark feelings of depression.  So, chronic "disease" may beget chronic complaining, which may lead to chronic answer seeking, which may lead to chronic depression.

Alas, I have no answer to remedy chronic conditions.  Perhaps "learning to live with it" is all I can offer.  So that is why I don't like this word.  For me, it messes with my "healer" fantasy.

Why doesn't anyone use the word "chronic" in an upbeat way.  Can you imagine if we did?  Yes, Ralph has a chronic smile on his face and Sara has chronic happiness syndrome.

Yes...CHRONIC HAPPINESS SYNDROME!  Just imagine the MD writing this on your medical history.  Of course, to diagnosis it, she would assess for a set of symptoms.  One of those symptoms might be not complaining.  And then that might go under the symptom of denial.  So the MD might then send you to a counselor to work through your denial.  Imagine sitting in the chair for your first visit.  The counselor says, "What brings you here?"  And you happily reply, "Oh, I have Chronic Happiness Syndrome."  The good counselor breaks down the walls of denial, and you are cured!   NO WAIT... there is no cure for this.  Remember?  It is CHRONIC.

The point?  It is just a word.  And like all words, it can have the power to define and shape our lives.  In my life and my profession, I have fallen victim to all the associations our society makes with it.  The reality is: we are all just people...not labels...just people.