Pharmaceutical News:
THE PERSONALITY DRIVERS AND HEART ILLNESS: HURRYING PERSONALITY
Hurrying personalities are similar to Trying Hard copers in their sense of urgency about completing the tasks that face them. However, these people typically feel frazzled and chaotic in response to their urgency, versus the sense of steadfast goal-directedness experienced by Trying Hard personalities.
Hurrying personalities experience much frustration and irritability when faced with the reality that cardiac rehabilitation is a lifelong process, not an event that will soon be finished. They may become impatient and critical in their dealings with others. This just creates even more tension, which further fuels their frustration with the slow pace of rehabilitation. This frustration can escalate into loss of motivation to continue reasonable and sensible rehabilitation efforts. Two poor choices made by some who are caught in the Hurrying trap are (1) foolishly attempting dangerous quick cure methods and (2) completely giving up out of impatience and frustration with the rehabilitation process.
Steven was a case in point. He had always lived in a frantic rush. He often appeared disorganized and overwhelmed as he rushed about, usually expressing an urgent need to hurry because he was running late for his next appointment. After many years of struggling to control his chronically high blood pressure, Steven suffered a serious myocardial infarction. He was also forty-five pounds over ideal body weight. His comments about needing to lose weight typify the dangerous coping trap experienced by Hurrying cardiac patients:
“First, my doctor told me to start exercising a few times a week, so I did. Then he told me to eat less junk food, so I did. I dropped ten pounds during the first two weeks, but I haven’t lost any more weight in the past three months. Now he’s telling me I have to lose fifty pounds or this blood pressure treatment won’t work. And he’s saying I should only lose one or two pounds a week or the weight won’t stay off.
“Give me a break! At two pounds a week, it would take twenty-five weeks to lose this weight. At one pound a week, it would take almost a year! I’ve never done anything consistently for an entire year in my life. If there’s not a quicker way to do this, then I’m not doing it. Maybe I’ll just fast for a month, or just drink juices or something. If that doesn’t work, then I don’t know, maybe I’ll just take my chances being fat.”
Remember that if either of you becomes trapped in Hurrying patterns you run the risk of damaging both your marital harmony and the cardiac rehabilitation progress. Coping with any chronic illness requires patience and the ability to accept that progress may sometimes go slowly—virtues that are difficult for Hurrying personalities to grasp.
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