The Importance of Self-Love with Fibromyalgia

According to a study done by Juth, Smyth, and Santuzzi and published by the NCBI, self-esteem predicts affect, stress, social interaction, and the severity of symptoms during the everyday lives of patients living with a chronic illness.

Participants with chronic illness participated in a self-esteem measure which was collected by EMA five times a day for one week. The participants used personal computers. When participants reported low self-esteem, they suffered from more negative effects and less positive effects, higher levels of stress, and stronger overall symptoms over the course of the day.

This is not that surprising. According to studies conducted by Weaver and Narsavage in 1992 and Weaver, Richmond, and Narsavagae in 1997 saw that patients who suffer from chronic illness often find that patients have lowered self-esteem and a feeling of “universal helplessness.”

Studies have found that empirically, self-esteem and chronic illness tend to have either direct or indirect effects on one another, proving that there is most definitely a relationship between the two. The extent of which is difficult to find empirically, but the fact that there is a correlation is indisputable.

Self-esteem is also related to how much perceived pain the patient is suffering from. According to Panides and Ziller (1981), the degree of physical pain and psychological discomfort or stress felt by the patient is directly impacted by their self-esteem.