Arthritis Support Groups

 

With the plethora of medications available for all types of arthritis sufferers these days, it may become easy to forget that there is a mental pain that comes with having the physical pains such an illness. New drugs that will help to dull physical pain are being found at record rates; yet there are some things that drugs alone cannot cure. The loneliness and despair that can accompany an arthritis diagnosis, as well as the diagnosis of many other illnesses, is something that must be addressed with another kind of medicine; mental medicine. To combat the mental and personal problems that arthritis sufferers have, support groups have been formed where people can express their thoughts and hopefully gain a community of friends who will be there to offer mental and emotional support. These groups of people find a common bond and are linked together by their diagnoses. If it is true that there is strength in numbers, then all arthritis sufferers will find joining a support group rather helpful.

Support groups are places where patients (and sometimes members of their families and friends) come to meet and talk about ways that they themselves can help fight arthritis. They focus on natural healing techniques that include plain old positive thinking as a way to remedy pain. Support groups are significant because they recognize and embrace the importance of a deeper healing process that spans far beyond just physical relief.

There are so many support groups available that cataloging them all would be an impossible task. However, many hospitals will offer information about support groups along with packages that they give with patients’ medicine. Since there are so many different types of arthritis, there are support groups created to mold around these differences.  

One such group of hospitals and clinics, called Allina, has a whole section on their website (http://www.medformation.com/ac/services.nsf/category/arthritis) that lists times for support group meetings every month. Allina is a non profit group of 11 hospitals that operates in the Minnesota region of the country. They offer groups for Arthritis Fibromyalgia, juvenile arthritis, and women with rheumatic disorders. Their mission is to make sure that people have an outlet where they go and have to be active. When patients are out and about with friends and family, they have less time to stress and worry about their conditions and that is very helpful in carrying out the mental healing process.

If you have arthritis, you are certainly not alone.  Many times a disorder like arthritis can make people feel like giving up on going out of the house, and soon they will become dependant on their caregivers. This reverses the effects of medicine because patients will stop using parts of their bodies and the progress of the illness with not be hindered. This is yet another reason why support groups are of utmost importance; they allow people to heal their soul while making them remain active and more independent. Often times, it is simply helpful to be able to share a set of experiences in dealing with arthritis with a group of people who have had to deal with the same issues.

The St. Gabriel Catholic Church and Arthritis Patient Services of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina also provide different support groups for arthritis sufferers. They specialize in groups for persons with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and for other young people with arthritis. (http://www.supportworks.org/cat706.htm)

Although not every hospital has specific support groups, most support groups do not require a doctor’s referral in order for you to come and join. Information can be found on the internet at a host of different sites including your health care provider’s website. When searching for support groups, however, they are not nearly as highly publicized as they should be. If you want more information, there is a special subheading in the Yellow Pages called “social service organizations,” where you can find groups specific to your geographical location.  In addition, your health care provider should be able to provide you with further information.

Authors:  Brittany Cierra Stanley, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

               Pearl Kim, M.D., New York-Presbyterian Hospital, The University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, New York, NY