Being Sick Well: Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness.

by Jeffrey H. Boyd.

...Boyd-whose own late wife suffered from heart and kidney problems, paralysis and strokes-extends an honest and compassionate resource for the chronically ill and their caregivers. Boyd has two goals: to persuade readers that we are facing an "epidemic" of chronic illness, and to help sick people have more joyful lives. In good self-help form, he offers 20 "strategies" for joyful living. This book features Sherri's story (wife of founder and president of IDA) in the Using Your Suffering to Help Others section!

 

 

Being Sick Well Available Here (US only).

Amazon Review from Wayne Connell

A fellow Caregiver, May 24, 2005

I wanted to share with you about a fantastic book I just finished reading. "Being Sick Well, Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness," is probably one of the best books I have ever read. As someone who is a care giver of a chronic illness sufferer and the Founder & President of two chronic illness support & awareness organizations, The Invisible Disabilities Advocate, I was moved with a wide range of emotions and challenged with new ideas and wowed by the insight of the author, Dr Jeffery Boyd.

In "Being Sick Well," Dr Boyd states "When I talked with people who had chronic illness but remained upbeat, I discovered that they developed methods to help them get through the day." These methods which Dr Boyd gleaned from case histories are mentioned throughout the book and are insightfully turned into 20 strategies for joyful living despite chronic illness. The book is full of stories of sufferers and their care givers. There are even detailed statistics and conclusions surrounding the continuing rise of chronic illness in America despite the notion we are getting healthier. Dr Boyd tackles these issues surrounding chronic illness with experience, intelligence and compassion.

Far from being dry, I cried and cheered and laughed. The stories are moving and what they teach in regards to "Being Sick Well" are practical and inspiring. Since my organizations do not target any specific chronic illnesses or disease, I wondered how they could have an greater impact on our world. Most people are drawn to a particular organization that deals with one specific disease or chronic illness such as the Arthritis Foundation or the MS Society. Dr Boyd addresses this issue by stating the following:

What is lacking is a sense of common cause among the different disease constituencies. If the families afflicted with diseases X, Y, and Z would cooperate instead of competing with one another, there would emerge an advocacy group representing a majority of the public, and suddenly the healthcare finance system would be forced to change so as to recognize and treat chronic illness. That would make life with chronic disease much more tolerable for everyone.

I was not only moved by his book, but I was also encouraged and energized to rise to the challenge he set forth. Since currently "At least 45% of all Americans have a chronic condition" there is a lot of work to be done and I thank Dr Boyd for leading the challenge in "Being Sick Well."

More About Dr. Boyd:

Dr. Boyd did his residency in psychiatry at Yale University and joined the Waterbury Hospital, where he has been Chairman of Behavioral Health for more than a decade. He has published sixty-two professional articles or chapters in books, on forty-two of which he was the first author, including an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. He has presented seventy-one papers to learned societies or scholarly organizations. Dr. Boyd has reviewed articles for the Science, New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Epidemiology, and a variety of leading psychiatric and theological research journals. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Religion and Health.