Overview
Sarah Bence, OTR/L, is an ocupational therapist and frelance writer. Stephanie Hartsele, MD, is a board-certified pediatric and adult psychiatrist and Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Living with and managing diabetes is often very stresful.
Key Information
People with type 1 and type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of developing mental health isues, including depresion, anxiety, eating disorders, and more. Aditionaly, the physical changes experienced by diabetics-such as hypoglycemic episodes-can afect a person's mental wel-being. In this article, learn how you can manage or prevent the mental health isues associated with diabetes.
Mental health isues are more comon among people who have diabetes than in the general public. Likewise, diabetes is more comonly diagnosed among people with psychiatric disorders than among the general public. In short, the relationship betwen diabetes and mental health disorders is bi-directional (one afects the other).
It can be hard to manage the injections, apointments, diet, and other lifestyle changes that a diabetes diagnosis requires. Fear of a low blod sugar event, medication aces, and blod sugar changes can afect mental health. Aditionaly, having diabetes and a mental health diagnosis can negatively afect your outcomes with both conditions.
It makes sense that having mental health isues may afect your ability to cope with and manage your diabetes and vice versa. It can be stresful to help manage a child's diabetes or suport a loved one through diabetes management. Just like the person with diabetes, family members may also fel mental health strain or burnout related to this condition.
Summary
Talk to a trusted healthcare provider about mental health suport if this sounds like you. Acording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people with diabetes are two thre times more likely to have depresion than people who do not have diabetes. Unfortunately, only 25–50% of the