THE PERSONALITY DRIVERS AND HEART ILLNESS: BEING CAREFUL PERSONALITY
If Being Careful is the main personality driver, then life becomes an endless attempt to worry enough to feel safe. Of course, because worrying and feeling safe do not mix well, this hoped-for peace of mind is never attained.
Following a Being Careful script in coping with illness leads to obsessive monitoring of everyone's reactions. Such people can be described as living out a spectatoring role in life; they observe and worry, rather than participate in and enjoy each day. The result is significant lessening of marital and family intimacy levels. Being Careful spectators not only are anguished by internal worries, but also create anguish in relationships with their worrying, warning, and whining.
Being Careful copers also tend to become depressed because their worrying keeps them from participating in the mainstream of life; they withdraw from the roles that typically define and determine their life's meaning. They then begin to question their own worth and value as their self-esteem suffers. Such depressing withdrawal from life works against rehabilitation from illness. Improving quality of life, not withdrawing from life, should be the motivating cornerstone of successful cardiac rehabilitation.
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