The experience of an illness, especially a somatic chronic illness, can often be associated with a great sense of discomfort and, consequently, with the patient's belief that their quality of life has been significantly reduced. The sense of quality of life is a subjective category that depends on a number of factors, such as the subject's personality traits or value system. A person usually makes an assessment of the value of his or her life by comparing the state he or she is currently in with his or her previous state and determining the possibilities for further functioning of his or her body. The assessment of the state of health may be the result of strong emotions that cause a narrowing of the perception of the situation and influence the desires or behaviour of the individual, who - in extreme situations - may assume that a life of a certain quality (especially when there is no prognosis for significant improvement), no longer has value for him or her. In such circumstances, the individual may refuse to continue therapy or may even have self-destructive thoughts, which is a very difficult situation for those around him, who often perceive the quality of his life very differently and who are faced with the problem of how they should react to the patient's attitude to the problems he is facing.
EXPERIENCING SOMATIC CHRONIC ILLNESS AND SENSE OF QUALITY OF LIFE. A PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
14 December 2022